Workspaces,currencies,and care: Prison labor dynamics in a women's prison in Peru

Abstract

This article explores the economic-productive system within a women's prison in Peru, focusing on the dynamics of prison labor from a gendered perspective. Drawing on participatory group discussions with female prisoners in a maximum-security facility in Lima, the study uncovers how these women navigate various forms of labor to meet both institutional demands and personal needs. The analysis highlights three key topics: (1) the workspaces within the prison, (2) the types of currencies operating in the prison economy, and (3) care as a resource in prison labor. The study emphasizes the multiplicity of workspaces—formal, hybrid, informal, and illegal—within confinement, identifies the different “currencies” used in the prison economy (including penitentiary benefits, monetary income, and bartering), and demonstrates care, as a gendered concept, transverses women's incorporation to labor dynamics. This research advances the understanding of gendered prison labor by revealing how women's activities often reinforce patriarchal norms while also functioning as strategies for survival and resistance.