Nation Offers to Take Charge of the Prison Crisis to Protect the People of Buenos Aires

The repeated escapes of prisoners in the police stations of Buenos Aires City led the head of Government, Jorge Macri, and the Minister of Security of the Nation, Patricia Bullrich, to agree on the transfer of 400 convicted detainees to federal prisons.

This measure aims to alleviate the crisis in detention centers and protect the residents of Buenos Aires, where there are currently around 2,300 inmates.

New escape in Balvanera worsens the prison crisis

The latest escape occurred in the early hours of Tuesday at the Neighborhood Police Station 3A, located at 2600 Lavalle, in the Balvanera neighborhood. Six prisoners, three Argentinians and three Chileans, managed to escape, marking the third escape so far this year.

This incident intensified tensions between the Buenos Aires Security Minister, Waldo Wolff, and his national counterpart, Patricia Bullrich, due to the lack of space in federal prisons. However, the conversation between Bullrich and Macri unlocked the situation, allowing the transfer of convicted prisoners.

Agreement to ease the situation

The agreement reached establishes that the Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF) will be able to transfer convicted detainees to federal prisons that have availability. Among the inmates to be relocated, there are two serving life sentences.

According to official sources, the 400 detainees to be transferred are divided into:

• 143 with a firm sentence.
• 250 without a firm sentence.
• 1,314 with preventive detention.
• 562 without resolution.

This agreement seeks to alleviate overcrowding in Buenos Aires police stations and prevent new escapes, ensuring better detention conditions for the inmates.