There are 53 prisons in Bolivia which incarcerate around 8,700 people as of 2010. The prisons are managed by the Penitentiary Regime Directorate . There are 17 prisons in departmental

Departments of Bolivia

Bolivia is divided into nine departments . Each of the departments is subdivided into provinces , which are further subdivided into municipalities ....

 capital cities and 36 provincial prisons. According to the Defensor del Pueblo and a source in the Directorate, approximately three-quarters of prisoners have yet to receive their sentences, and are either awaiting trial, or presently on trial; the Defensor del Pueblo considers these people deprived of their right to liberty. Overcrowding is at a serious level, with the total prison population at three times the capacity of the prisons. An investigative survey by the Defensor del Pueblo of 20 rural prisons found that they lack the basic infrastructure necessary to function humanely.

Urban prisons include San Pedro Prison

San Pedro prison

San Pedro prison or El penal de San Pedro is the largest prison in La Paz, Bolivia renowned for being a society within itself. Significantly different from most correctional facilities, inmates at San Pedro have jobs inside the community, buy or rent their accommodation, and often live with their...

 and Chonchocoro Prison in La Paz, and San Sebastian Prison in Cochabamba

Cochabamba

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...

.