For decades, Ibero-American prison systems have been marked by deep tensions between the punitive function of punishment and the need to guarantee the human dignity of persons deprived of liberty. Overcrowding, inadequate conditions of detention, the invisibility of particularly vulnerable groups, and the absence of effective social reintegration programmes have demanded urgent and transformative responses.
In this context, the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero-American Countries (COMJIB) and COPOLAD III have created this operational tool to promote reforms that respect human dignity, strengthen the proportionality of sentences, and expand the use of alternatives to imprisonment.
This document also constitutes a call to action: addressed to States, justice operators and all committed actors, so that we can move forward together towards a more effective and truly humane justice system. Because only when the criminal justice system respects the dignity of all people, including those who have broken the law, can we speak of justice in its fullest sense. Finally, the humanisation of punishment should not be understood as an act of leniency, but as an ethical, legal and democratic conviction that guides justice towards unrestricted respect for human dignity, the safeguarding of fundamental rights and effective social reintegration.
