Living in Peru : your everyday companion

15 new prisons to solve inmate overpopulation problem in Peru

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


A development plan for the construction of over a dozen prisons in Peru, which has already been approved by the president, was presented on Tuesday by Rosario Fernandez, the country's Justice Minister.

According to the presentation made by Minister Fernandez, the first stage of the program comprises an investment of approximately 90 million soles and the construction of six prisons.

Fernandez explained that it had been planned for the fist stage of the program to be complete by 2011, thus addressing the prison overpopulation problem that exists in the Andean country.

Of the six prisons that are to be built, two will be constructed by private companies - one in Huaraz and another in Cañete - and the other four will be built by the government, three of which will be located in Ancon, Tarapaca and Chincha.

The Justice Minister stated that the prisons in Huaraz and Cañete would not only be built by private companies but would also be administered by them. They are to be in charge of management, security and other internal issues, Fernandez said.

It was reported the two prisons will hold approximately 2,000 inmates each and will be minimum and medium security facilities.

The second stage of the program consists of the expansion of existing facilities and the construction of five new prisons in Callao, Chiclayo, Piura and Pucallpa. This is to be carried out from 2011 - 2014.

From the 2014-2017, it has been planned that two prisons will be built in Lima as well as one in Ayacucho and another in Trujillo.

Peru currently has 43,137 inmates housed in facilities that were built for 22,589 people.

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# stalker says :
21 May, 2008 [ 11:52 ]

builm and fillm up! PLEASE

# mericorps says :
21 May, 2008 [ 13:50 ]

I am infavor of building more prisons in Peru.

Now it should be time to clean up the corrupt judicial system that lets judges be easily bribed. 

Hence a poor single mom with 50 grams of marijuana spending 8 years in jail, part of that time her baby with her while the son of a wealthy business man who killed 2 people while driving under the influence of cocain and had 250 grams in his car was set free due to lack of evidence.

I think the single mom should have got in trouble, no problem with that, just the difference between the 2 punishments speaks ill of the Peruvian judicial system (and no, I am not claiming the USA system works much better.)

# Anonymous Muhammed says :
21 May, 2008 [ 16:42 ]

I am against taxpayers money being used to feed and house criminals.

Anyone convicted with a likely non-rehabilitable offense should be left on an island somewhere in the pacific.

Corrupt officials should be branded traitors and sent to China for organ harvesting. Lots of people who deserve to live need new kidneys, while many don't, such as guy in Mericorps's example.

# CapitanDan says :
21 May, 2008 [ 17:50 ]

Mericorps, you are right about the corrupt judicial systems. The only difference between the U.S. and Peru is that the Proceedings are recorded in different languages. Your example reminds me of O.J. , Robert Blake and many others. We need more prisons, but why not use the example of the Sheriff in Arizona. He makes the prisoners live in tents and work for their meals . This is not inhumane, but fair.Why treat criminals better than the poorest citizen. Muhammed I wish Peru had an island large enough and remote enough to secure these people , but alas there isn't. Maybe Peru could strike a deal with Chile and send these people to islands off the mainland. Peru has vast desolate areas where we could house these inmates and have them do constructive reclamation projects. As for the Chinese ,since the problems in Tibet they have many organ donors waiting to be harvested. Chau

# rdl says :
29 May, 2008 [ 05:24 ]

 Great, i am in the process of going to live in chincha alta ica,with my family, to be around my wifes family, and start a new life, i thought chincha and pisco was going to be rebuilt for the better,after the earthquake, not turned into a penal colony for murderers and drug traffickers,etc,etc, foriegn business and development would surely be put off,a bit by this news. ps. what the hells chincha done to deserve that. thanks a lot! from a soon to be new chincha resident.

# Splaktar says :
31 May, 2008 [ 09:59 ]

rdl, Chincha already had a prison but it was destroyed in the earthquake.  I'm not sure if rebuilding it is part of this plan or if this plan is in addition to that.  So it's nothing new to be getting a prison in Chinca.

This is good news as Peru's prison and judicial systems are in major need of attention.