Mmpi-2 based psychological profile of Mexican inmates

Abstract

To be able to understand problems faced in Mexico’s prisons, some data must be taken into account. Statistical data collected by the Secretariat of the Interior (January, 2013) show that there are 420 correctional facilities with a total of 242,754 inmates. These facilities are designed to house 195,278 inmates, so this indicates that capacity is up to 124.3%, with overcrowding in 220 of the 420 total correctional facilities. 95% of inmates are male and 5% female. In fact, the penal system has abused convictions (96.4%) by setting jail time as sentence enforcement with imprisonment. Only for 3.6% of criminal punishments did alternative punishments were considered, such as fines and compensations.1 Overcrowding is causing, in turn, many other issues: organized gangs, failure to control prisons, ungovernability, lack of basic amenities, misclassification of inmates, poor integration of employees’ responsibilities, and, naturally, the lack of real opportunities for access to means guaranteeing effective social reintegration. This overcrowding in correctional facilities has been repeatedly denounced by many representatives of the National Human Rights Commission,2 who have expressed the need for a comprehensive solution and different strategies, policies, programs, and interventions by the branches of government to attend to this issue.3