amount Prisoners in police stations and guardsinstead of in Prisonshe Doubled In less than a decade. One of the jurisdictions with the highest number of detainees in police custody is the city of Buenos Aires.
The Institute for Comparative Studies in Social and Criminological Sciences (INECIP), which issues reports on the situation in prisons across the country, noted that there are currently more than 13 thousand people are imprisoned in police station cellsWhile this number was in 2016 5,422. This increase is alarming because it reveals the poor conditions in which criminals are detained, but it also reveals that police officers are limited in their patrol and preventive duties by focusing on monitoring inmates.
condition CABA is one of the most impressiveThere have been several cases of prisoners escaping from police stations in the past two years, and the National Commission for Reform and Gender Equality notes that “permanent residence in police institutions has become normal.” The Prison Prosecution Office indicated that people are being held in prisons Buenos Aires prices range between 2000 and 2500. In 2022, this number barely exceeds 800 people.
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The practice of professional and critical journalism is an essential pillar of democracy. This is why it bothers those who believe they are the bearers of the truth.
A new escape in the city of Buenos Aires: six prisoners escape from the police station in Balvanera
The institute warns that police stations are not places for long-term detention, because they lack the minimum structure to cover the needs of detainees, such as health, food or bathrooms, and they do not allow prisoners to be reintegrated into society.
“The fact that there are convicts serving sentences in police stations can no longer be described as ‘bad prison conditions’, but must be treated for what they are: a state of humiliation and torture,” notes the National Institute for Gender Equality and Prisoner Detention in its regional classification of people detained in police stations.
Santa Fe and the city of Buenos Aires are two contrasting cases
During the month of October, the Institute surveyed some Buenos Aires facilities in the worst conditions. One of them is District 1C Police StationIn it, he described, based on his visit to the place: “It can be seen that there is noticeable overcrowding There are currently 45 prisoners in a facility that has the ideal capacity to house 17 detainees.. This means that residents must Sharing mattresses In the small spaces in which they reside.”
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In the same way he referred to it in District 2A Police Station “There’s a sign OverpopulationBecause the police station has the real capacity to house 30 detainees, and it currently houses 44 prisoners.” At the same time, he pointed out that “the unit has Three fully functional bathroomsany This does not usually happen within the orbit of Alcidias and the various police stations To the city police.”
There is a completely different case which is case Santa Fe CountyDuring the year 2023, the Ministry of Justice and Security implemented a policy of evacuating police stations and transferring the people in them to penal institutions.
INECIP noted that the main motivation behind these measures is to once again enable the police to patrol the streets and carry out preventive missions. He added that “7.7% of the detainees are still detained in police institutions.”
Controversial judge in Chubut who documented arrests at police stations was removed
INECIP also denounced the dismissal of the Chubut judge, Daniela ArcuriThis was at the request of the provincial government, after it documented and denounced the inhumane housing conditions in police stations and supervisors in that province.
The judge documented multiple structural and sanitary deficiencies in the facilities: lack of heating and hot water, deteriorating electrical installations, rodent infestation, accumulation of garbage, non-fireproof mattresses, extreme humidity, lack of food provision, and lack of adequate bathrooms and hygiene areas. He also pointed to serious problems in the classification of detainees, the limited number of staff and the presence of unpaid work activities within the unit.
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