Chile’s Ministry of Justice is analyzing the feasibility of creating a prison facility exclusively for indigenous prisoners.
«There is a group of parliamentarians from both the opposition and the ruling party who have already formally proposed to us the possibility of creating a penitentiary establishment for people who are serving sentences and who are part of the Mapuche people. We are evaluating it», explained Chilean Undersecretary of Justice Jaime Gajardo, in declarations to the newspaper ‘La Tercera’.
Thus, he indicated that the Government is reviewing the costs of this measure «and if it is indeed possible within the framework established by Convention 169 of the ILO (International Labor Organization)», in reference to the specific norms for the fulfillment of the rights of the indigenous peoples.
«There has to be security for the inmates, their families and also for the gendarmes, and thus put an end to the disturbances in the streets of the cities where the prisons are currently located,» he has pointed out.
This announcement comes months after the Chilean Minister of Justice, Marcela Ríos, met with deputies from different benches in the context of the prison benefits granted to indigenous community members, while debating the administrative transfer of inmates who were on hunger strike at the Angol prison in southern Chile.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
