INTERVIEW | Pilar Lizana analyzed the issues affecting the country's penitentiary centers

“Rather than a new Ministry, we should be thinking about a different model for security management.” In Qué hay de Nuevo on Radio Infinita, AthenaLab security expert Pilar Lizana analyzed the issues affecting the country's penitentiary centers.  

Chile’s penitentiary system faces a serious challenge that goes beyond the projected overcrowding for 2030. Prisons have become operational centers for criminal organizations, which continue to control and coordinate criminal activities from within. This situation complicates the implementation of effective penitentiary policy and fosters the spread of criminality among inmates.

In Qué hay de Nuevo, AthenaLab security expert Pilar Lizana analyzed the issues affecting the country’s penitentiary centers.

When asked about the statements made by Minister Gajardo, who reaffirmed that “Gendarmería has control of the prisons,” Lizana stated that it is “quite difficult to talk about control, because beyond this case of the decapitated inmate, we have various corruption issues involving Gendarmería, so it is quite difficult to speak of total control within the prisons.”

In this regard, she pointed out that “we are a bit late in addressing the various events associated with the security crisis. We have many red flags coming from other Latin American countries that we should have noticed earlier, such as in Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil, so we should have discussed this much sooner, and what we are observing is that there are many reactive measures,” asserting that “we have a long way to go in terms of prevention.”

Following this, she stated that “we need to address the problems that may exist within Gendarmería: what happens with the submission of inmates to guards, corruption, extortion, among others, so these are issues we must pay attention to and take long-term measures to ensure sustainability in the system.”

To conclude, she emphasized that despite having some expectations regarding the creation of the new Ministry of Security, as days go by, she has become disheartened by the emergence of this portfolio: “The biggest security problem today is one of management; we need to integrate all actors (…) this is much more than a police response. Rather than a new Ministry, we should be thinking about a different model for security management, where the political leader assumes their role of leadership, and that is the president, and if the new Ministry of Security does not foster that inclusion, it may not be the answer to this problem.”

Full interview