Chilean officials are in the hot seat for the poor, cramped state of its prisons after a fire this week left at least 81 inmates dead and 14 seriously injured.
The deadly fire broke out on Wednesday morning in San Miguel prison in Santiago, the capital of Chile, after a fight erupted among the prisoners.
Amateur video footage showed some prisoners waving hands and calling for doors to be opened while relatives were screaming in front of the prison.
“The tragic deaths of 81 inmates are essentially the result of overcrowding and poor prison conditions, two longstanding problems in Chile,” said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement released on Thursday.
“It is critically important for the Chilean government to make overhauling the prison system a priority.”
The San Miguel prison was originally built to house 1,000 prisoners, however, it currently holds almost 2,000 inmates, reports HRW.
Chile jails more of its citizens per capita than any of its South American neighbors. According to HRW’s 2010 Human Rights report on Chile, in the past six years, the number of inmates in Chile has increased by 50 percent. This increase is partially attributable to improvements in efficiency in criminal procedures, states the report.
Despite building more prisons to house these additional criminals, overcrowding and dilapidated facilities remain a serious problem in addition to violence in prisons, which has been growing in recent years, the report said.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced emergency measures on Wednesday to improve living conditions and reduce overcrowding in the country’s prison system, as well recommitting to his election promise to build more prisons and renovate old ones.
“We cannot continue to live in a prison system that is absolutely and totally inhumane,” the president’s press service quoted him as saying during a speech at a National Institute of Human Rights ceremony.
“We will pursue all the responsibilities ... whether there was negligence, error, or irresponsibility on the part of those who were in charge of the jail in San Miguel,” he said.
The deadly fire broke out on Wednesday morning in San Miguel prison in Santiago, the capital of Chile, after a fight erupted among the prisoners.
Amateur video footage showed some prisoners waving hands and calling for doors to be opened while relatives were screaming in front of the prison.
“The tragic deaths of 81 inmates are essentially the result of overcrowding and poor prison conditions, two longstanding problems in Chile,” said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement released on Thursday.
“It is critically important for the Chilean government to make overhauling the prison system a priority.”
The San Miguel prison was originally built to house 1,000 prisoners, however, it currently holds almost 2,000 inmates, reports HRW.
Chile jails more of its citizens per capita than any of its South American neighbors. According to HRW’s 2010 Human Rights report on Chile, in the past six years, the number of inmates in Chile has increased by 50 percent. This increase is partially attributable to improvements in efficiency in criminal procedures, states the report.
Despite building more prisons to house these additional criminals, overcrowding and dilapidated facilities remain a serious problem in addition to violence in prisons, which has been growing in recent years, the report said.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced emergency measures on Wednesday to improve living conditions and reduce overcrowding in the country’s prison system, as well recommitting to his election promise to build more prisons and renovate old ones.
“We cannot continue to live in a prison system that is absolutely and totally inhumane,” the president’s press service quoted him as saying during a speech at a National Institute of Human Rights ceremony.
“We will pursue all the responsibilities ... whether there was negligence, error, or irresponsibility on the part of those who were in charge of the jail in San Miguel,” he said.
