A few hours ago, a video was released showing the impressive banquet attended by dozens of prisoners on Christmas Eve in a pavilion of General Alvear’s Correctional Unit No. 30 of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB). The images show prisoners enjoying an enormous amount of roasted meat in the community and the impact was immediate.
The images show inmates at an SPB prison celebrating Christmas Eve in a festive atmosphere that provokes outrage: lavish tables of food, music, laughter, alcohol consumption and an atmosphere remarkably far removed from the reality that many associate with serving a sentence.
The audiovisual material shows a “large-scale” celebration inside the prison, which contrasted sharply with the situation of numerous families outside the prison walls, many of whom spent Christmas in an economic crisis, without sufficient resources or even the opportunity to attend a traditional dinner.
The distribution of the video sparked intense public debate. On the one hand, hundreds of users expressed their discomfort and demanded explanations from the prison authorities, questioning the controls, the services provided and the conditions under which the celebration was allowed. On the other hand, some voices argued that people deprived of their freedom retain their basic rights, including the right to celebrate important dates, as long as strict rules are followed and undue privileges are not enjoyed.
So far there has been no official statement clarifying the framework in which the celebration took place and whether there were special permits or possible irregularities. This fact once again puts the functioning of the Argentine penal system, the balance between human rights, institutional control and the meaning of punishment at the center of the discussion.
Once again, a viral video reignites a deep controversy, revealing a reality that divides opinion in society and raises questions about what is happening in the country’s prisons.
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