Despite its pervasiveness in many Latin American prison systems, violence by prison officers against detainees remains largely marginal in global prison studies. In anglophone literature, it is often treated only tangentially, framed through broader concerns with legitimacy, governance, or reform. In Argentina, by contrast, this violence has been documented as a human rights violation—yet typically from a legalist or denunciatory perspective that overlooks its underlying causes and the dynamics through which it unfolds. This chapter revisits the limited attention this form of violence has received in anglophone literature, drawing on the perspective of southern criminology and proposing the recovery of a “missing plot” that foregrounds prison officer violence as a structural and routine feature of penal regimes. Based on a critical review of existing research—particularly in the context of Argentina’s federal prison system—I explore both the methodological challenges and the analytical tools available to examine this violence in context. I conclude by tracing a key antecedent in Latin America’s critical criminological tradition and human rights activism, which offers vital resources for understanding and challenging carceral violence in the Global South and beyond.