Study of South American country's jails oddly ignored (7)
I believe the answer is:
perusal
'study' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'south american country's jails oddly ignored' is the wordplay.
'south american country's' becomes 'Peru's' (country in South America).
'oddly ignored' means one should take alternating letters (letters in odd-numbered positions are removed).
The alternating letters of 'jails' are 'al'.
'perus'+'al'='PERUSAL'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for perusal that I've seen before include "A casual read or study" , "Scanning, reading" , "worth a close look" , "Careful look" , "Reading, examination" .)