Originally published at The Crux
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In crime-stricken Latin America, growing segments in society have been demanding not only tougher penalties for criminals, but also less rights for prisoners – even though conditions in penal systems all across the region are notoriously deplorable, with overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and even hunger.
Last month, Argentina’s Church took an important step in the opposite direction, trying to bring humanity and dignity to the inmates of the Penitentiary Unit No. 43, a prison with around 1,300 detainees located in González Catán, La Matanza, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Two dioceses – San Justo and Gregorio de Laferrere – launched an addiction treatment center inside that penitentiary, serving 60 inmates in the morning and another 60 in the afternoon.
The initiative is part of a national network called Hogares de Cristo (“Homes of Christ”) and is the very first to be implemented in a prison, a long-time dream of Father José María di Paola, the mastermind behind the project.
Di Paola is one of the most famous curas villeros (“slum priests”) in the South American country (where he is popularly known as Padre Pepe). Ordained in 1987, he worked as a priest in Villa 21-24, a major slum in
