The prison-industrial complex (PIC) is a term, coined after the "military-industrial complex" of the 1950s, used by scholars and activists to describe the many relationships between institutions of imprisonment and the various businesses that benefit from them.
Canóvanas is a town and municipality in Puerto Rico, located in the northeastern region, north of Juncos and Las Piedras; south of Loíza; east of Carolina; and west of Río Grande. Canóvanas is spread over 6 barrios and Canóvanas Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Toa Alta is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast of the island, north of Naranjito; south of Dorado and Toa Baja; east of Vega Alta and Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Toa Alta is spread over eight barrios and Toa Alta Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metropolitan statistical area. There are nine barrios in Toa Alta and altogether in 2020 had a population of 66,852. Río de la Plata, is a large river that runs through Toa Alta. Toa Alta celebrates its patron saint festival in May.
Vega Alta is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico. Vega Alta is on the northern coast of the island, north of Morovis and Corozal; east of Vega Baja; and west of Dorado with an area of 28 square miles (73 km2). Vega Alta is subdivided into seven barrios and Vega Alta barrio-pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Vega Baja is a town and municipality located on the coast of north central Puerto Rico. It is north of Morovis, east of Manatí, and west of Vega Alta. Vega Baja is spread over 14 barrios. The population of the municipality was 54,414 at the 2020 census. It is part of the San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan statistical area.
Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2023 over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world, it has 5% of the world’s population, and 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with four times more inhabitants, has less persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.
The Civil Rights Commission is an official entity within the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico charged with investigating violations of citizens' civil rights. The commission is empowered to educate citizens about their civil rights, investigate alleged civil rights violations, and carry out studies and investigations. Amendments to its organic law also empowers it to appear as a "friend of the court" in cases that the commission deems to have an important effect on civil rights in Puerto Rico.
Alejandrina Torres is a Puerto Rican woman whose trial as a member and role in Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) resulted in her conviction and sentencing of 35 years for seditious conspiracy. Torres was linked to FALN, which claimed responsibility for 100 bombings and six deaths. Her sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
The Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is the law enforcement executive department of the government responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. The department has authority over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population who have broken the law.
Puerto Rico Highway 159 (PR-159) is the main road from Morovis to Toa Alta, passing through the municipality of Corozal in Puerto Rico. This road begins in downtown Morovis, from its intersection with PR-155 and PR-6623 to its junction with PR-165 in Toa Alta. It is about 21 km (13 mi) long.
University Gardens High School, formally University Gardens Community School Specialized in Science and Mathematics, is a secondary magnet school located in Hato Rey Sur, San Juan, Puerto Rico. University Gardens is run by the Puerto Rico Department of Education and is overseen by its Specialized Schools Unit.
Alicia Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 55 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, she was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
The Metropolitan Detention Center, Guaynabo is a United States federal prison facility in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico which holds male and female inmates of all security levels who are awaiting trial or sentencing. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
José Gualberto Padilla, also known as El Caribe, was a physician, poet, journalist, politician, and advocate for Puerto Rico's independence. He suffered imprisonment and constant persecution by the Spanish Crown in Puerto Rico because his patriotic verses, social criticism and political ideals were considered a threat to Spanish Colonial rule of the island.
Isabel Freire de Matos was a writer, educator, journalist, and activist for Puerto Rican independence. Freire de Matos was the author of several children's books and the wife of Francisco Matos Paoli, a high-ranking member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
Ana Irma Rivera Lassén is an Afro-Puerto Rican attorney who is a current Member of the Puerto Rican Senate, elected on November 3, 2020, and who previously served as the head of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico from 2012–2014. She was the first black woman, and third female, to head the organization. She is a feminist and human rights activist, who is also openly lesbian. She has received many awards and honors for her work in the area of women's rights and human rights, including the Capetillo-Roqué Medal from the Puerto Rican Senate, the Martin Luther King/Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Prize, and the Nilita Vientós Gastón Medal. She is a practicing attorney and serves on the faculty of several universities in Puerto Rico; she currently serves on the Advisory Committee on Access to Justice of the Puerto Rican Judicial Branch.
Herminia Tormes García was a Puerto Rican lawyer and the first woman to practice the profession on the island. After earning the right to practice law in 1917, she became the first woman to bring a case before the Bostonian jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals in 1924. In 1926, she was appointed as the first woman to serve as a judge in Puerto Rico. Throughout her career, Tormes worked for women who were incarcerated or engaged in prostitution, advocating for their rights. In 1964, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico named a room after her at its offices in San Juan.
Bajura is a barrio in the municipality of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 3,725.
Vega Alta barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center (seat) of Vega Alta, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 1,169.
Luisa Rosario Seijo Maldonado is a Puerto Rican academic, activist, and social worker.
