Prisons

David "Cuba Dave" Strecker is set to finish out a full year in preventive prison for allegations of promoting sex tourism in Costa Rica. He says he was officially charged Thursday for the first time.

A judge's order to release 380 prisoners from Alajuela's overcrowded Gerardo Rodríguez prison has caused government infighting and pushback from the tourism industry.

Officials said the fight erupted following a dispute between leaders of two rival groups, including one led by a member of the Zetas drug cartel. The 60-year-old penitentiary houses 3,800 inmates, twice its capacity.

Costa Rica’s Justice Minister Cecilia Sánchez Romero was forced this week to defend before the Legislative Assembly the partial release of hundreds of inmates to reduce overcrowding. The program has sparked criticism from various sectors, including the Public Security Ministry.

Their reality is a 4x4-meter cell of cement and iron, where only a few rays of sunlight enter each day and where sleep comes on concrete beds. Among the inmates are leaders of rival drug gangs that have launched a violent turf war in the streets of San José’s southern and western neighborhoods, leaving a toll of 165 deaths in only nine months. Here's a look.

There are few set criteria governing how transgender inmates should be handled by Costa Rican prisons. Many men who identify as women are sent to men's prisons.