What lies behind punishment. First approaches to the study of the relationship between the criminal justice and the prison

La justicia penal tiene un vínculo en apariencia estrecho con la prisión. Es que constituye la respuesta preponderante y más utilizada frente a los conflictos que llegan a su conocimiento. Esto, ya sea a través de la aplicación de una pena en sentido estricto o bajo la modalidad del encierro preventivo. Este trabajo intenta problematizar este escenario a través de un acercamiento empírico que indicaría que, en rigor de verdad, la justicia penal ha consolidado una distancia tal con la prisión con secuelas concretas a la hora de abordar los problemas estructurales de la cárcel. Desde ese lugar, invita a reflexionar sobre la necesidad de que los operadores jurídicos –los integrantes de la justicia penal– tengan mayor contacto durante la carrera judicial.There is a seemingly tight relationship between incarceration and Criminal Justice institutions. The former is the most commonly used answer to every conflict that reaches the attention of the former. This relation is materialized through the application of a sentence in the strict sense, or through preventive detention. This essay attempts to bring to attention, through an empirical approach, to the problems that this consolidated relationship between the Criminal Justice and the jail system brings to the structural problems of the jailing system itself. From this point of view it promotes reflexion upon the need of legal operators - members of the Criminal Justice system - to have increased contact with the jail system itself during their legal careers.Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociale