Global Courant
In an efficient government committed to the well-being of the citizenry, the fact that four serious violent incidents occurred in the Penitentiary System in just six days, including the homicide of the director of the Zacapa prison and the acting deputy director of Operations of the Zone 18 Preventive, would require serious questioning of the management capacity of the Ministry of the Interior, the execution of public safety protocols, and even the possibility of high-level dismissals. But that is in doubt due to the initial premise of the statement.
There is no need for empty excuses or obvious hypotheses that do not lead to results in the long run. The violent release of a dangerous inmate, murderer, and robber during a transfer from Coatepeque to Retalhuleu, a hearing of which no one else in the Penitentiary System or the National Civil Police had any news, only exhibits a porous operation, with information leaks, possible collusions, and operational deficiencies without any monitoring. Such oversights are inexcusable because there is a long history of failures in this area, but above all because President Alejandro Giammattei exposed in his curriculum and electoral campaigns the experience of having been director of Presidios from 2005 to 2007.
Three decades have passed and at the same time it seems that we are still stranded on the prison issue. Overcrowding persists, clashes continue and the movement of equipment, drugs and weapons continues. Searches come and go, but the same crimes are always found that allow extortion, reprisals and also shootings, such as those that occurred on Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th at the Prevention Center in zone 18, a whole nucleus of impunity and chaos that constitutes an affront.
When the countdown to the end of the current term already marks 173 days, the beginning of a public, transparent, concrete and comprehensive process of prison reform seems unlikely. To date, an efficient classification of inmates by levels of danger has not been implemented. This would make certain transfers unnecessary because a court appearance through videoconferences would be unavoidable. The same can be said of departures for medical reasons that are often faked and used to escape.
The construction of the maximum security prison in Escuintla, whose adjudication was postponed several times and ended up in the hands of a Mexican company accused of corruption and non-compliance, seems distant. The project will cost more than Q660 million and only last February the first Q16 million were assigned for a feasibility study, without any further progress being reported. Said installation is not a panacea, but it would be the first step to carry out transfers and physical remodeling in other centers. In a country with so many prisoners convicted of violent crimes, gang ties, and organized crime, a modern super-prison would not only constitute a deterrent but also a strategic infrastructure, with respect for due guarantees.
Inmates classified as dangerous, due to aggressive behavior, ties or recidivism, must be deprived of visits with physical contact. They should be carried out in booths with security glass, connected by telephones with recording of calls with double monitoring in real time in the prison and a remote central. But if cell phones and internet antennas continue to enter through bribes, the country will continue at the mercy of prisoners.
At the mercy of prison mediocrity
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