Security Minister Martín Arrau is preparing a communications, legislative and management initiative to address the prison crisis, according to La Tercera. The plan includes the rapid construction of modular prisons and reform of the prison service. The shift follows the failure of the constitutional reform promoted by José Antonio Kast's government.
The assessment begins on the ground. On May 29, ten days after taking office, Arrau toured the so-called "prison district" in central Santiago with prison service director Rubén Pérez. He visited the maximum-security prisons and the former penitentiary.
It was his first direct contact with the system. The engineer and former head of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) has since made about ten visits to facilities in different regions. During those visits, he has observed overcrowding, poor living conditions and limited capacity to separate inmates according to how dangerous they are.
Arrau often recounts what he has seen. He mentions inmates sleeping in makeshift shelters in prison yards and prison officers' uniforms in poor condition because the institution lacks the funds to replace them. The issue also occupied the latest meeting of the Advisory Panel of Public Security Experts, which the minister chaired.
The first focus is infrastructure. Arrau will continue the Prison Infrastructure Master Plan, launched by the previous administration, which envisages building and upgrading prisons through 2034. In parallel, he will promote a "rapid construction" agenda.
The focus is on modular prisons, built using industrialized methods that shorten construction times. The model was used in Rosario, Argentina, a city visited by a Chilean government delegation. The same delegation reviewed similar experiences in Europe.
According to people familiar with the plan cited by the outlet, the modules would house lower-risk prisoners. Higher-risk inmates would thus be concentrated in facilities with stronger security.
The change is also administrative. According to government sources, Arrau is negotiating the transfer of part of the Ministry of Justice's Budget, Planning and Infrastructure Division to the Ministry of Security, headquartered at Teatinos 220. The idea is to transfer the entire Infrastructure Department, along with its head, María Loreto González, who led the trips to Argentina and Europe.
The second focus is communications. The Ministry of Security seeks to highlight the condition of the facilities and the measures underway. That includes publicly criticizing court rulings that overturn transfers of dangerous inmates ordered by the prison service. Arrau has already challenged each of those rulings on social media and in statements. Senators are now pursuing a constitutional reform to limit such reversals.
The third focus is prison officers. The minister has described their difficult working conditions, which sometimes force them to pay for their own uniforms. There are no details yet on specific measures.
What is known is the next legislative step. The ministries of Security and Justice are jointly drafting a new Organic Law for the Prison Service, whose contents have yet to be disclosed.
