Cordoba, Argentina: Drugs are the fourth cause of imprisonment

Intercambios

Statistics made on the province prisons population confirm the trend observed at the national level within the Federal Penitentiary System. Besides, almost all persons of both sexes arrested by violation of Narcotics Act are in the lower ends of illegal drug markets.

Information given by the Ministry of Justice of the province of Cordoba regarding the composition of the imprisoned population in that province confirms the conclusions of the book “Imprisonments due to crimes related to drugs in Argentina”, launched in last August, and authored by Alejandro Corda, Intercambios researcher.

According to the study on 5965 persons arrested in prisons from Cordoba, federal offenses (usually, related to Narcotics Act, as the report from the Province Ministry of Justice explains), are the fourth cause of imprisonment in Cordoba, and affect persons involved in the lower ends of illegal drug markets. Among the prisoners in the province, there are 325 accused and only 72 convicted because of this cause.

Among women, figures are much more significant: most of the 249 arrested in the Province prisons, are there because of Narcotics Act 23.737. “It is convenient to notice that in the last years the rate of accused women because of petty drug sales has increased”, the report highlights. The main reasons, as it states, are two: the need to approach to drugs sale when their husbands are arrested, and the strategy of the criminal gangs as women have more possibilities to be favored with house arrest.

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