Título III. Órganos administratlvos

The organs of the Penitentiary System are:

a)The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System;

b)The National Commission of the Penitentiary System;

c)The School of Penitentiary Studies; and,

d)The National Commission of Health, Education and Labor.

The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System is the body responsible for the planning, organization and execution of penitentiary policies. The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System is directly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and shall be headed by a Director General. For the fulfillment of its functions it shall have, at a minimum, the following offices:

a)General Subdirectorate;

b)Operational Subdirectorate;

c)Technical-Administrative Subdirectorate;

d)Social Rehabilitation Subdirectorate;

e)General Inspectorate of the Penitentiary Regime; and,

f)Directorates and Subdirectorates of Detention Centers.

The minimum requirements to be appointed Director of the Penitentiary System are the following:

a)Be Guatemalan;

b)Be over thirty years of age; and,

c)Hold a university degree, at the licenciatura level, and be an active member of the professional association. Having a career in the Penitentiary System shall be considered special merit.

The Director General and the Deputy Director General of the Penitentiary System shall be appointed by the Minister of the Interior.

The Deputy Directors shall be appointed by the Minister of the Interior upon proposal of the Director General of the Penitentiary System. The other public officials and employees shall be appointed by the Director General of the Penitentiary System.

It is an advisory and consultative body. Its powers shall be:

a)To propose penitentiary policies;

b)To participate in the negotiation of both national and international aid with a view to increasing the budget of the institution; and,

c)To foster the development and strengthening of the School of Penitentiary Studies

The National Commission of the Penitentiary System shall be composed of:

a)The First Vice Minister of the Interior;

b)The Director General of the Penitentiary System;

c)A prosecutor appointed by the Public Prosecutor's Office;

d)The head of the Execution Unit of the Institute of Public Criminal Defense; and,

e)An execution judge appointed by the Supreme Court of Justice.

The authorities shall make the appointments of persons with full decision-making capacity and shall have the power to replace them at any time.

The regulation of this Law shall establish matters relating to the per diems to be received by the members of this Commission.

The penitentiary career is created, which constitutes a profession recognized by the State, which shall comprise the process of formation, training, professionalization, evaluation and promotion, through which the penitentiary administration ensures duly qualified personnel, with a vocation of service and ethics in the performance of their functions.

Personnel shall be subject to a manual for the classification of posts and wages, in which shall be determined at a minimum: the denomination, specializations, functions, responsibilities and the requirements of each post, its hierarchical scale and the corresponding wage, as well as the conditions for promotions, removals and transfers in which merit qualifications and permanent performance evaluations shall be considered.

The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System may enter into agreements with different institutions of an educational, training and professionalization character with the object of guaranteeing an efficient penitentiary career and the effective fulfillment of that established in this article.

The regulation of this Law shall establish the system of competitive examinations for promotions and appointments to jobs.

The School of Penitentiary Studies is hereby created as a body of an educational nature, responsible for guiding the training and instruction programs related to the functions performed by such personnel. Its essential objective is to guarantee an efficient penitentiary career, based on merit and professional excellence.

It shall also collect, research and update information related to penitentiary matters, and permanently maintain relations with similar institutions of a national and international character for the better fulfillment of its function.

Likewise, it shall be in charge of supporting the process of selection, training, professionalization and evaluation of the personnel serving the Penitentiary System.

The regulation implementing this Law shall regulate matters relating to this subject.

The National Commission for Comprehensive Health, Education and Labor shall be the technical-advisory and consultative body of the General Directorate, which shall propose policies to facilitate for incarcerated persons studies at different levels, development of work dexterities, skills and abilities, to favor the implementation of sources of work and education through penitentiary and post-penitentiary programs, in order to contribute to their social readaptation.

The National Commission for Comprehensive Health, Education and Labor shall be composed of the following institutions through a high-level representative or delegate:

a)The General Directorate of the Penitentiary System, which presides over it;

b)The Ministry of Education;

c)The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare;

d)The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance;

e)The Organized Business Sector;

f)The Organized Labor Sector; and,

g)The Technical Institute for Training and Productivity.

The Penitentiary System shall have two types of detention centers: preventive detention centers and centers for the execution of sentences.

The detention centers regulated in this law have as their purpose the custody and protection of persons subject to proceedings and convicted persons.

The detention centers of the Penitentiary System, according to the purpose of the detention, are divided into the following classes:

of the penalty of persons convicted under final judgment, their readaptation.

a)Preventive Detention Centers

1.For men

2.For women

b)Sentence-Enforcement Centers

1.For men

2.For women

c)Maximum-Security Sentence-Enforcement Centers

1.For men

2.For women

Preventive detention centers shall have, for their administration, sectors for: minimum security, medium security and maximum security.

The sentence-enforcement centers regulated in subparagraph (b) of this article shall have sectors for service of arresto as a custodial penalty; likewise, they shall have inmate classification establishing a minimum-security sector and a medium-security sector.

In the event that there are no establishments designated for women, they may be confined in centers for men, but in special sectors with absolute separation, surveillance and their own internal regime.

Detention centers shall be under the charge of the General Directorate of the Penitentiary System, with the exception of juvenile internment centers governed by special legislation; therefore the admission of minors in conflict with the law to the centers of the Penitentiary System is prohibited.

Preventive Detention Centers shall be designated for the protection and custody of persons deprived of their liberty by judicial decision, in order to ensure their presence in the corresponding proceedings.

The Sentence Enforcement Centers shall be designated for the execution of penalties of imprisonment and for the confinement of those who are sentenced to the death penalty.

The Special Detention or Maximum Security Centers shall be designated for the serving of sentences of persons responsible for the commission of crimes of high social impact, of all those who present problems of extreme maladjustment, constituting risks to the security of the inmates and other persons associated with the center, as well as of those inmates who, upon recommendation of the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Teams, must be placed in and/or transferred to said center.

The Detention Centers for Women shall be adapted to their personal conditions. They shall have facilities or sectors for pregnant female inmates. In addition, they shall have conditions that allow female inmates to live with their children under four years of age, suitable premises in the center to be provided for such purpose, intended for child daycare, which shall be attended by specialized personnel.

The Secretariat of Social Works of the President's Wife shall create shelter centers and shall oversee the education of the children over four years of age of incarcerated mothers whose relatives within the degrees of consanguinity cannot take charge of them, under conditions that guarantee their development and comprehensive education.

The Detention Centers for men shall be adequate in accordance with the conditions of the inmates.

The Penitentiary System shall design a special detention center for older adults and for persons with disabilities.

Penitentiary establishments shall be built with architecture appropriate to the climate of the place, and that guarantee security, especially compliance with the reeducation and social rehabilitation programs. In addition, they shall have conditions that allow for an adequate distribution of incarcerated persons.

The State shall ensure that the establishments are provided with the human, material and financial resources necessary to ensure the maintenance, development and fulfillment of their purposes; likewise, according to its capacity and in coordination with the responsible entities, it shall ensure that said centers have adequate facilities for the conduct of the judicial proceedings of incarcerated persons.