News of prison

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Anti-Corruption Office seeks eight-year prison sentence for Lázaro Báez

22-07-2020 11:21 Anti-Corruption Office asks for prison sentence of more than eight years for Kirchnerite tycoon Lázaro Báez on charges of money-laundering and eight years for his eldest son Martín as trial restarts online.

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Lázaro Báez granted house arrest but yet to be released

10-07-2020 16:32 Alleged Kirchnerite frontman, who stands accused of raft of corruption offences, granted house arrest by court, prompting angry reaction from his future neighbours. Release will not be until next week at earliest, with row over high bail set as part of condition.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Protest against release of prisoners ups pressure on Fernández

02-05-2020 07:32 Noisy cacerolazo protest, heard in major cities across the country, highlights growing anger at granting of house arrest to criminals during coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus pandemic

Virus spreads fear through Latin America's unruly prisons

29-04-2020 12:50 The spreading spectre of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America's notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons, threatening to turn them into infernos.

PRISONS AND THE PANDEMIC

Tension grows as first virus cases confirmed in BA Province jails

25-04-2020 10:13 Petitions for house arrest grow as prisoners protest inside jails to demand action. So far three positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported within prison walls: two guards and a convict.

Coronavirus Pandemic

'We refuse to die in prison': Villa Devoto prison inmates riot amid pandemic

24-04-2020 16:34 Prisoners set fire to mattresses and riot arguing for house arrest due to coronavirus. Eleven prison officials have been hospitalized for minor burns.

CRIME & SECURITY

Court recommends house arrest for 'non-violent' prisoners

22-04-2020 17:01 Court recommends house arrest be granted to prisoners convicted of "non-violent" crimes. Decision draws immediate backlash from the families of crime victims.

False passport drama

Ronaldinho enjoys 'golden cell' in locked-down Paraguay capital

16-04-2020 19:36 With Paraguay's capital under lockdown, former Brazil star Ronaldinho is spending his second week under house arrest at an exclusive hotel in Asunción, as he awaits trial for entering the country under a false passport.

WIKILEAKS FOUNDER

Assange had two children while inside Ecuador's London Embassy

13-04-2020 08:51 Julian Assange's partner revealed Sunday that she had two children with him while he lived inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, issues plea for the WikiLeaks founder to be released from prison over health fears.

LANDMARK #METOO TRIAL

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years for rape, sexual assault

11-03-2020 12:25 Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convicted last month of raping a woman in New York City in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on another woman at his apartment in 2006.

RELEASED FROM JAIL

Killer who stabbed girlfriend 113 times released from jail, 24 years on

28-02-2020 15:17 Fabián Tablado, who committed the brutal femicide of 17-year-old Carolina Aló in 1996, was released from prison today after more than two decades behind bars.

HUMAN RIGHTS

'Death flight' repressor Scilingo living in semi-freedom in Spain

21-01-2020 07:00 Adolfo Scilingo, who was convicted by Spanish courts of involvement in deaths of 30 individuals during 1976-1983 military dictatorship, has been living in semi-freedom since last November.

Penitentiary system

Argentina's prison population grew 55% over last six years

29-11-2019 07:00 Number of those incarcerated grew by 55% between 2013 and 2019, reaching a total of more than 63,000 people, new data shows. Significant rise in figures under Macri administration.

WIKILEAKS FOUNDER

Swedish prosecutor drops Assange rape investigation

19-11-2019 13:00 Swedish prosecutors drop investigation into jailed WikiLeaks founder over 2010 rape allegation, even though they found the plaintiff's claim "credible."

EX-PRESIDENT FREED

Lula vows to ‘continue fighting’ after judge frees him from jail

09-11-2019 08:36 Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner hail former Brazil president, who is freed from jail after benefitting from a Supreme Court ruling.

JAILED SOCIAL LEADER

UCR's Cornejo slams 'irresponsible' Fernández over Milagro Sala comments

08-11-2019 17:24 President-elect accused of "anti-republican behaviour" after saying jailed Túpac Amaru leader "does not deserve to be detained." Sala, meanwhile, says she wants to run for governorship of Jujuy Province.

BREAKING NEWS

Brazil judge orders ex-president Lula's release from jail

08-11-2019 16:45 Judge authorises release of jailed ex-president, after a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for thousands of convicts to be freed.

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Jailed ex-VP Amado Boudou gets more than two months shaved off sentence

30-10-2019 14:05 In majority ruling, judges agree time served under pre-trial arrest in a related case should be counted towards near- six-year sentence handed down in Ciccone Calcographic case.

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Appeals court orders Bonadio to release Cristóbal López, Fabián De Sousa from jail

04-10-2019 18:32 Judge sets bail at 60 million pesos each, with owners of Indalo Group set to be released on bail as early as next week.

CÓRDOBA JURY TRIAL

Woman in Córdoba gets 13 years in jail for cutting off lover's penis

26-09-2019 09:57 Brenda Barattini, the woman who used a pair of pruning shears to cut off her lover's genitals, sentenced to 13 years in prison for attempted aggravated homicide.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Protests seek justice for Jorge Julio López, 13 years on from disappearance

18-09-2019 16:59 Marchers renew calls for justice in case of missing bricklayer, who disappeared just days after giving evidence in trial involving Miguel Etchecolatz, one of Argentina's most notorious dictatorship-era criminals.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Carrió calls for elderly dictatorship-era criminals to be freed from jail

17-09-2019 16:29 Outspoken national lawmaker says those 'dying in prison' convicted of crimes against humanity should be freed from jail, adding that ex-planning minister Julio De Vido should also be freed.

LATIN AMERICA

At least 52 dead in Brazil prison riot: official

29-07-2019 14:26 Violence between rival gang factions leaves 16 decapitated, two guards taken hostage

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL

Fernández calls Lula's arrest 'stain on Brazil' as he visits leader in jail

05-07-2019 10:15 Presidential hopeful says he sees events in Brazil "with concern" and argues Lula's conviction is not on steady ground, as he casts shadow over future of EU-Mercosur deal.

Organised Crime

Italian mobster Rocco Morabito escapes from Uruguayan prison

24-06-2019 18:12 The organised crime boss, who, along with three other inmates, escaped through the roof, was awaiting extradition to Italy.

CRIME & REHABILITATION

Uruguay prison turns inmates into entrepreneurs

22-06-2019 08:30 Punta de Rieles is an exception, not only in Uruguay but in Latin America, where penitentiary systems are synonymous with inhumane treatment, inhospitable conditions and very high recidivism rates.

ONCE TRAIN TRAGEDY

De Vido, the Once tragedy and the courts: From lack of evidence to a conviction

13-10-2018 08:25 Ex-planning minister handed prison sentence in second trial probing deaths of 51 people in horrific 2012 rail crash.

by Cecilia Devanna

DICTATORSHIP ERA

Luis Muiña handed life in jail for dictatorship-era murder at Posadas hospital

15-09-2018 11:51 Luis Muiña sentenced to life in prison for murder of a doctor at the Posadas Hospital in western Buenos Aires Province during the last military dictatorship.

by Luciana Bertoia

AS I SEE IT

Cleaning up a crumbling economy

18-08-2018 11:17 Here, a former president who has been plausibly accused of stealing billions of dollars not only remains at large, but still has a chance of returning in triumph to the Pink House and stealing a few billion more.

by JAMES NEILSON