From Gang Leaders to Religious Leaders: Religion in Peruvian Jails

In a continent where murder rates are the highest in the world, Pentecostal Churches have become known for succeeding where other institutions have failed—that is, they manage to offer criminals a safe alternative out of Mafia gangs through religious conversion.

This presentation will focus on conversion in two Peruvian jails, San Juan de Lurigancho and Piura Jail. With their collapsing infrastructures, they may be considered to represent the conditions of most Latin American jails. Because of overcrowding, extensive drugs consumption, financial obligations (inside and outside jail), and networks of friendship and gangs, the whole delinquent organization and its culture become an all-encompassing system. Jails are commonly labeled : "universities of crime".

In this infra-human surrounding, Pentecostal Churches manage to create a space of order, strict discipline and effusive worship. They thus attract some of the boldest and toughest criminals and transform them into sober and enthusiast religious leaders and pastors. We will try to understand the paradoxical success of these Churches.

Prof. Véronique Lecaros is an associate researcher at the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (IDHEPUCP). Her field of expertise is Latin American religion. She holds a PhD in theology from the University of Strasbourg (France), a PhD in Art History from the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), and two Masters in Philosophy from Stanford University and Sorbonne University. She has directed and taken part in various research projects financed by the Italian Bishops Conference, the Templeton Foundation, the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and the Universidad Jesuita Antonio Ruiz de Montoya (UARM). Her research has been published in journal and newspaper articles in Europe and America and has also resulted in several books, including La Conversión al Evangelismo published in both Spanish and French (L'Harmattan). In addition to her research, she has been teaching graduate-level courses on Peruvian culture and religion for 13 years at PUCP. With funding from a Jack Shand Research Grant, she is currently researching the impact of Christian conversion as a safe way out of criminal gangs in Peru.

She will be teaching “Christianity, Pentecostalism and Social Challenges in Latin America” in Spring 2019.