“We get nothing by imprisoning indiscriminately”

Within the framework of the public account of the Ministry of Justice, Minister Luis Cordero He assured that in terms of security, the solution is not to fill the prisons as some voices suggest.

“This has been an intense year in practically all areas covered by our Ministry. “We have made significant progress or we have put ourselves at the starting point to make improvements or substantive changes,” said the minister.

Regarding “penal populism,” he assured that “an axis, which is directly linked to the main concern of citizens, such as public safety and the different manifestations of crime, is the enforcement of sentences.”

“We know perfectly well our obligation in this area. But, it is also our responsibility to warn the risks of penal populism and the implications of requiring imprisonment for each criminal act, even before the Courts resolve their sentence,” he added.

“Notwithstanding this, we have proposed to carry out a new Penitentiary Policy, which takes into account the demands of the present and projects the requirements of the future. This new policy, in which a multidisciplinary and intersectoral team works, will guide public policy decisions based on the national reality, the evidence and the international commitments acquired by the State of Chile. It seeks to overcome a short-term and reactive logic and set objectives that represent transversal agreements, which in turn allow us to anticipate problems that can only be effectively addressed in advance. An obvious example is the design and construction of penitentiary facilities, processes of very long duration that require a foresighted look and action,” he explained.

In that sense, Cordero raised “the need to establish a Prison Infrastructure Master Plan, which implies setting objectives that exceed the administration period, since the large projects that the country needs generally take around a decade to be completed. . From now on, all the projects announced by President Boric in his 2023 public account are in development, which means covering more than 10,300 positions. To this we must add another 2,377 places considered in the 2024 Budget. Likewise, in the 2025 Budget we will incorporate other initiatives, in order to take care of the existing pressure in the system.”

“But, we must insist that the rationalization of the use of prison is essential, since in the last two years the population deprived of liberty has increased by more than 14 thousand people. In the last 24 months alone, we went from 41,370 people deprived of liberty to 55,663 (+34.6%). Of them, those accused in preventive detention went from 15,404 to 20,697 (+ 34.4%),” he warned.

In the final part of his speech, he noted that “in our opinion, it is not appropriate for the speech and security issues to be ideologically appropriate. In confronting, for example, the scourge of illicit economies, transversality and approaches from various disciplines, coordinated and articulated, are required, both at the legislative levels and at those corresponding to the Executive Branch and the management of the public apparatus. We must also understand that the conditions of the State, its rules and governance prevent the proliferation of these negative phenomena.”

“We must get out of the trap of fear, understanding fear as panic and security as a ban on rights. We understand security as part of an agenda that seeks to escape violence by addressing crime in a transversal manner. Security and crime fighting are not just about harsh punishment. Otherwise, penal populism and its laws would be enough, which, in the long run, actually show to have limited consequences,” he added.

“The fight against illicit economies is not possible without social reintegration. We get nothing by imprisoning indiscriminately because we only transfer the moment of high violence to another time. But we don’t solve anything. A Justice System that acts in a timely manner with a Penitentiary System that acts in a reasonable manner, and that is progressively capable of reintegration, are the bases of a just and peaceful society, which in the long run implies a less violent community,” he concluded.

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