Countries in Latin America are implementing the use of a tracking bracelet

A report on the human rights of prisoners in Latin America, published by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) revealed that excessive pretrial detention within the Hispanic judicial system is one of the major conflicts in the region.

According to the document, the massive crowding in prisons requires special attention from their States to adopt policies such as promoting the use of “alternatives” to the preventive detention and imprisonment as a penalty.

One alternative could be the use of an electronic tracking bracelet; currently applied in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. It is used to control people under investigation in criminal proceedings and thus decongest prisons.

Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama study the possibility of implementing this type of monitoring, while other countries already have a legislation that authorizes the application, but not yet practical. In Ecuador, the Justice Commission of the National Assembly is still evaluating the alternative.

The United Nations recommends the use of this alternative measure to imprisonment with “humanitarian purpose” in the case of prisioners with serious illnesses, the elderly and pregnant women.