QCOSTARICA — As Rodrigo Chaves’s government plans to build a new prison for US$35 million, human rights advocates and criminology specialists point out that Costa Rica is one of the countries in the world with the highest number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.
The 2024 World Prison Brief report, prepared by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at at Birkbeck, University of London, highlights that Costa Rica is the third country in Central America with the most prisoners and the 22nd in the world out of 224 jurisdictions.
El Salvador and the heavy-handed policy implemented by its President Nayib Bukele have the highest prison rate per 100,000 inhabitants in the world, with 1,659 people, followed by Panama with 530, meanwhile, Costa Rica has 345.
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“We are a country that incarcerates a lot. The flagrant courts, the increase in the indicted population, and the higher number of sentences for people with sentences of less than five years have led to a growth in the prison population in recent years. The government has indicated that it is urgent to build a prison that meets high-containment conditions with adequate infrastructure, with which I agree. La Reforma and most of our prisons do not have the ideal infrastructure,” warned Tania Molina, criminologist, consultant, and author of the book Futuro Secuestrado (Kidnapped Future).
The expert clarified that infrastructure is one thing and penalization is quite another, while warning that “we cannot ignore that, with the elections just a months away, this is a political issue.”
“This issue would be used as another campaign banner, because the government is rushing to do something useful in these final months of the presidential term. They had time to do it, and now they’re rushing to the end,” Molina added.
President Rodrigo Chaves assured that the construction of a mega-prison inspired by the penitentiary model of El Salvador will begin soon and will be completed in 195 days, once the cornerstone is laid.
The new prison would have the capacity to house 5,000 inmates, with the goal of keeping common criminals and drug traffickers behind bars, who are currently fighting over Costa Rican territory in a bloody turf war.
In fact, Gérald Campos, Minister of Justice, traveled to El Salvador in early April to seek direct advice and returned with plans for the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), the mega-prison symbol of the Bukele administration.
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The construction of the prison planned by the government comes at a time when the country is experiencing a war between criminal gangs for control of territories for drug sales. In 2023 and 2024, the country recorded record homicides, with 907 and 880 cases.
Human Rights Defense
On the other hand, Larissa Arroyo, a lawyer specializing in human rights and gender issues, noted that numerous studies have shown that increased punitivism does not translate into greater security.
Arroyo also criticized the advice the government has received from El Salvador on this matter.
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“Increasing penalties or punishments does not prevent or better protect citizens and the general population. Therefore, it is truly concerning that the advice the President receives on this matter comes from a state that has been repeatedly accused of violating human rights, not only against people deprived of their liberty, but also because it has even kept people incarcerated without respecting fundamental principles such as due process or the presumption of innocence,” Arroyo said.
For the expert, the proposal would be part of a political strategy ahead of the upcoming electoral process, “which further raises alarm bells and encourages questioning,” she concluded.
High Incarceration Rates
Globally, Costa Rica is one of the countries with the highest number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.
Data from the 2024 World Prison Brief places our country 22nd out of 224 jurisdictions (figures from the 2024 World Prison Brief*).
World Ranking / Country / Rate per 100,000 inhabitants
1. El Salvador 1,659
2. Cuba 794
5. United States 541
7. Panama 530
13. Uruguay 449
14. Brazil 416
22. Costa Rica 345
26. Nicaragua 332
30. Chile 312
37. Peru 290
45. Argentina 268
50. Bolivia 252
53. Paraguay 250
75. Colombia 199
75. Venezuela 199
83. Honduras 188
86. Ecuador 184
88. Mexico 180
128. Guatemala 123
162. Canada 90
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