Grapevine

‘Not prisoners but students’: Inside Argentina’s in-prison universities

Buenos Aires, Argentina – It’s nearly lunchtime, and a buzz of activity fills the wide central corridor of Centro Universitario San Martin (CUSAM), a university in the state of Buenos Aires.

People stream in and out of classrooms. Some students rush off to grab a quick meal. Others gather in the director’s office to debate the state of Argentina’s education system.

Were it not for the tall fences topped with razor wire or the multiple security checkpoints, CUSAM might seem like any other higher-education facility.

But CUSAM is situated in the San Martin prison, a maximum-security facility located about an hour from Argentina’s capital city.

There, imprisoned men and women — as well as prison staff — attend in-person classes affiliated with the National University of San Martin, a public university based nearby. They can even earn degrees in sociology and social work.