Miraflores Women's Penitentiary Center

Jeanine Áñez at the Miraflores Women's Penitentiary in March 2021

The Miraflores Women's Penitentiary Center (Spanish: Centro Penitenciario Femenino de Miraflores) is a women's prison in the Miraflores district of La Paz, Bolivia. The facility is a high security prison nominally created to hold forty inmates, although it holds many more, with some incarcerated women housing children with them.[1][2]

British anthropologist Alison Spedding—who was incarcerated there for some time—described conditions at the prison as spartan, overseen by staff of both sexes wearing military uniform, but that illegal drugs were less available than at other prisons.[2][3]

Former Bolivian president Jeanine Áñez was held in preventive detention there from 2021 to 2022.[4][5] She has claimed to have suffered torture and abuse in the prison.[6] Following the imposition of a ten-year prison sentence, she is to serve the rest of her prison term there.[7] Other inmates have complained about what they see as privileged treatment for Áñez, seeking equal treatment for themselves.[8]

  1. ^ "Information Pack for British Prisoners in Bolivia". British Embassy, La Paz. February 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  2. ^ a b Spedding, A. L. (1999). "Dreams of Leaving: Life in the Feminine Penitentiary Centre, Miraflores, La Paz, Bolivia". Anthropology Today. 15 (2): 11–17. doi:10.2307/2678263. ISSN 0268-540X. JSTOR 2678263.
  3. ^ Prison writing and the literary world : imprisonment, institutionality and questions of literary practice. Michelle Kelly, Claire Westall. New York, NY. 2021. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-000-21573-1. OCLC 1197761017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Lusa. "Ex-presidente interina da Bolívia condenada a dez anos de prisão". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  5. ^ "Bolivia: Former President Anez handed 10-year prison term". Deutsche Welle. 2022-06-11. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  6. ^ "Jeanine Áñez afirma estar sofrendo torturas e abusos em prisão na Bolívia". Social Marília (in Brazilian Portuguese). 23 March 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  7. ^ "Former interim president of Bolivia handed 10-year prison term". www.efe.com. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  8. ^ "Reclusas de la cárcel de Miraflores piden 'igualdad' respecto a los 'privilegios' de Añez". Erbol (in Spanish). 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2022-06-14.