The Barrio and the Prison in Guatemala

• In Event: Central America from Behind Bars

Abstract

Dennis was an ex ranflero (boss) of a clica that operated in the barrio. He was imprisoned near Guatemala City. Before, he had migrated to the United States but was deported at the end of the ’90s. He was pretty famous in the capital among the pandilleros, members of his gang. I tried to interview him in prison in March 2011 – I wanted to ask him for his opinion about the war that was affecting the barrio. Maybe Dennis thought that I was employed by an international organization; he pulled out a load of trial documents, he wanted to appeal. I attempted to escape from Dennis’s label, explaining the reason behind my interview.
My interview with Dennis was a failure. Yet it underlined two substantial issues. The first one was about methodology. Considering me as a mediator between the institution and his person, Dennis reminded me the constant risk of collusion with the “penal power” that I was running as a social researcher. The second topic was theoretical. Dennis indicated the existing connection between barrio and prison. In this paper, referring in particular to the work of Loïc Wacquant, I will explain the structural homology existing between Guatemalan marginal areas and prisons. I will contextualize Wacquant’s theories, advancing important clarifications: the connection between slums and prisons involve all the residents, not only the pandilleros. The pandillas, however, are relate in a very peculiar way to the Guatemalan penal system; they destabilize the imposed logics of segregation and discrimination.

Author

• Paolo Grassi