SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile will accelerate the construction of a new maximum security prison in the region encompassing the capital Santiago to help combat organized crime, the president said. Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday.
The new facility will cost around US$95.4 million (90 billion Chilean pesos) and will house around 500 maximum security inmates, as part of a plan to increase the current 600 maximum security sites. Another 200 places will be added to existing prisons in northern Chile, an area that has recorded higher levels of organized crime.
“In Chile we will not allow what happened in other countries where organized crime took over prisons without state control,” Boric said at a press conference after a meeting with the security cabinet. “That won’t happen in Chile.”
Boric said there was “a sense of urgency” and that he would send a bill to Congress to speed up the process and construction of the facility.
The announcement came after two mass shootings in Santiago left nine dead, including four teenagers, last week. Boric announced that suspects had been detained in both cases.
Crime has been a major issue for the left-wing president since taking office, dominating much of his agenda. Last year, Boric announced a $1.5 billion spending increase to combat crime after three police officers were killed. Private spending on security has also increased, as it is voters’ main concern.
Carolina Toha, Chile’s Interior Minister, noted that the country does not plan to follow El Salvador’s “megaprison” strategy, but aims to achieve European prison standards.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Diane Craft)
