Democracia entre rejas: representación y elecciones en el Penal de Lurigancho en Perú

Abstract

We seek to answer the question about how the method of election of “prison delegates” works in Lurigancho, the oldest prison in Peru. We are interested in explaining the practices that emerge in spaces like this as the key of procedural democracy and that are not only cyclical or atypical. The research explores political interactions and forms of representation and thus provides current evidence on its internal functioning. The results show that the penitentiary electoral reform organized by the inmates themselves favors internal control and has allowed the reduction of violence in previous years.