The state of female imprisonment in South America

Written by Barney Blackburn

Since the turn of the millennia, the number of women in prison has grown by 60%, almost three times greater than the increase in male incarceration (1). On a global scale, this figure is alarming and only exacerbated in the continent of South America by suffocating drug laws, where many women are forced into the drug trade to provide for their families. The World Female Imprisonment List shows that in Latin America, the incarceration of women has increased by a staggering 186% during this same period.

Speaking to a young woman in Sierra Leone, Human Rights lawyer Sabrina Mahtani heard that, ‘when you imprison a woman, you imprison a family.’ In light of this, Prisoners Abroad has collated statistics on female imprisonment in South America, studying the laws and reforms of its nations in order to better understand this continent’s incarceration crisis. Reckoning with this data must trigger tangible change.

On a global level, Sabrina Mahtani explains that women are criminalised due to ‘poverty, mental illness, abuse, or discrimination.’ (2) Statistics show that half of all women in prison were experiencing drug dependence in the year before their imprisonment, with this figure sitting at just less than a third amongst men (3). With regards to drug-related offences, the proportion of women imprisoned on these charges reaches 80% in some South American countries. (4) As a 2025 study details, these women are often led into ‘illicit’ work (4) due to their status as impoverished primary caregivers, with only a minute proportion imprisoned for genuine large-scale trafficking (5). This presents the image of many women as pawns in a trade that's problems are far greater than the manipulated actions of impoverished individuals.

Damningly so, it is not a reach to state that certain South American government’s policies are responsible for the rise in female involvement in the drug trade. Poverty to Punishment’s study notes that ‘without labour protections, women in informal sectors endure unsafe conditions and low wages,’ (4) pushing them towards illegal labour. The study further details (4) how Brazil and Colombia impose restrictions on street vending, particularly affecting Black and migrant women. Drugs are often the final resort for marginalised mothers needing to feed their children.

Away from narcotics, unjust treatment of typically marginalised people continues to occur in countries such as Brazil, whereby Black and low-income women are disproportionately targeted for prosecution over abortion. (4) Fast-tracked legislation in 2024 proposed that abortion after 22 weeks would equivalate with that of the crime of homicide in Brazil, even in cases of rape. Despite a colossal push-back by protestors, (6) support for the bill is unlikely to disappear in a country where even ‘legalised’ abortions are at times excruciatingly difficult to come by.

Moving westward, 2026 saw Chile welcome to power its most conservative president since the Pinochet dictatorship, José Antonio Kast. His appointment of Judith Marín (7) as women and gender equality minister, herself an anti-abortion activist, will further empower Kast’s desire for a total ban on abortion in Chile. This cramping of women’s rights is consistent with the country’s issues surrounding female imprisonment, with Chile sitting as the 13th highest nation in terms of female incarceration rate (8). This is in part due to the known criminalisation of women for ‘hurto famélico,’ or ‘theft out of hunger.’ (9) Coinciding with this image of poverty-induced crime, the majority of Chilean female prisoners are sentenced on drug-related or property offences (5). Must imprisonment always be the answer in these nuanced cases?

If you were to head north and ask Colombia’s Claudia Cordona, the answer would be a staunch no. After being released from prison, Cordona founded ‘Mujeres Libres,’ an organisation fighting for the rights of incarcerated women in a nation with the 14th highest number of female prisoners worldwide (8). With thanks to the organisation’s service, 2022 saw Colombia pass a law granting ‘free, opportune, and sufficient delivery of articles of menstrual hygiene for women detained in prisons’. (10) That this legislation needed strong backing to pass is mildly absurd, yet the country’s laboured pivot in support of female prisoners’ rights has, thankfully, gradually continued. 2023’s Public Utility Law permits first-time female offenders (who acted as heads of households) to serve the remainder of their sentence in their home community, returning to care for their families. (11) Just under 300 women (12) have been released since the law came into effect - a watershed moment - yet there remains 6,000 who may be eligible for the release, amidst a complicated legal procedure.

Opportunities that equip female prisoners to successfully re-enter society must be paramount. Initiatives do exist, such as investment in prison productions. In Colombia, six prisons put on biennial shows, with the winning performance invited to perform at the annual Ibero-American theatre festival in Bogotá. (13)

As South American countries often show, however, there is a long way to go to achieve justice for women, even that of the bare minimum. In the nation of Guyana, Poverty to Punishment (4) provides evidence of the strong correlation between gender-based violence and suicidality in women. Only in 2022 did the English-speaking nation decriminalise attempted suicides - such seemingly obvious reforms will go a long way in sensitizing government officials to push further for women’s right.

Granted, it is hard to be optimistic when one of the continent’s most influential leaders, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, acts so urgently in his oppression of women’s rights. By curtailing access to abortions while simultaneously cutting funding for the distribution of contraceptives, the decisions pregnant women must make are now markedly less secure in Argentina. Furthermore, how can an Argentinian be optimistic on the prospect of the government tackling female imprisonment, when their very own leader has already proudly shut down the Ministry of Women, Genders, and Diversity, and constantly dismantles initiatives combating gender violence (14)? Milei’s rhetoric in describing feminists as ‘promoters of the bloody, murderous abortion agenda’ is far from reassuring when it comes to hoping for just imprisonment for women in Argentina.

It is important to note, however, that March 2026 saw a watershed moment in the fight for justice for incarcerated women worldwide. An explicit referral to ‘women in imprisonment’ within the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women was the first time in 70 years that ‘the topic of women in prison is being taken seriously,’ explains university lecturer Patsilí Toledo (15). Such recognition must foster change - data collection is vital, as is centralising the roles of women with lived prison experience, (see, Claudia Cordona). Such initiatives will only further the realisation that imprisonment should be a last resort. The power of South America’s ‘Green Wave’ in protesting for women’s reproductive rights in the last decade has been formidable. Combating rising female imprisonment may pose as the movement’s next hurdle.

References

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