During the inauguration of the new extreme security pavilion in the Ancón I prison, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Walter Martínez, rejected that the President’s Government José Jerí Oré is replicating the prison model implemented by the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele.
He pointed out that the measures announced for the control of highly dangerous inmates respond to specific needs of the Peruvian penitentiary system and seek to stop the operation of organized crime from prisons.
“Not at all. These are measures that are being adopted and everything has a reason for being. It is not that we are copying any style or measures that occur elsewhere. Definitely not,” Martínez said in statements to the press after the inauguration ceremony.
The new pavilion, designed to house 168 inmates considered extremely dangerous, came into operation after the transfer of 45 inmates sentenced for serious crimes such as contract killing, extortion, kidnapping and qualified homicide. Among them is Adam Smith Lucano Cotrina, alias El Jorobado, as well as those involved in criminal networks such as Los Injertos del Norte.
Control measures
Martínez explained that the measures that will be implemented in the new pavilion aim to restore order, prevent illicit communication and limit the operational capacity of inmates inside and outside the prison.
“Why the uniform? Because it is a way of giving order, discipline and authority. The same thing happens with haircuts, which have a preventive reason: sometimes inmates can hide things in their hair,” he said.
The special closed regime of the pavilion contemplates:
- Visits once every 15 days.
- 22 hours a day of mandatory stay in the cell.
- Only two hours of patio a day.
- Prohibition of staying in hallways or common spaces.
- Environments without plugs or power points to prevent clandestine communications.
Receive your Perú21 by email or Whatsapp. Subscribe to our enriched digital newspaper. Take advantage of the discounts.
