04/24/2020 - 17:48
- Clarín.com
- Police
After 9 hours of tension, shooting and serious incidents, spokesmen for the Federal Penitentiary Service confirmed to Clarín that an act was signed between the officials who were present at the scene and the delegates of the detainees to raise the protest and continue dialogue during the weekend. of week.
The SPF is going to make a tour of the prison, but so far there are 11 officers injured with minor burns, they ruled out the presence of fatalities and assured that a dialogue with the authorities began. In the place there are representatives of the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General's Office and SPF, plus the inmates' delegates.
The negotiations were led by the Secretary of Justice of the Nation, Juan Martín Mena, the prison attorney Francisco Mugnolo, the National Director of the SPF, Emiliano Blanco and an envoy from the Judiciary. On the other side of the table, a score of inmates representing the various prison pavilions.
In Devoto there are 1,692 detainees and this week the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in a prison officer, which meant the preventive isolation of six other colleagues on duty. In recent weeks, from inside the prison, inmates denounced more cases and insistently demanded security and hygiene measures for the advance of the pandemic.
The main demand is "not to die in prison" , as the flags that the prisoners hung from the roofs say. Many also ask for some kind of benefit, such as early release or house arrest.
Sources of the Office of Institutional Violence (Procuvin), meanwhile, said that at the moment they were not informed about the existence of hostages. At least three ambulances entered the premises, located on Bermúdez street at 2600 in the Federal Capital.
Look also
Coronavirus in Argentina: the images of the violent riot in the Devoto prison
The weather became very hot from 8 in the morning, when several prisoners climbed onto the roofs and began to protest. Some flames are also recorded in the hallways of the pavilions.
Around noon the situation was still very tense, with detonations that can be heard from about 200 meters away, where the federal forces and the City Police set up a patrol fence and do not allow a closer approach to the building.
At least three ambulances have already entered the premises, although the sources consulted have not yet confirmed whether there are any injuries.
A turning point occurred this Thursday afternoon, when the Federal Penitentiary Service confirmed that an agent serving in the Devoto prison tested positive for coronavirus and that the situation also required the isolation of six other penitentiaries who shared turn with the infected man.
Inside the prison, several of the detainees denounce that hygiene and prevention measures are lacking in view of the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, on March 28, a prison employee filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office and there It indicated that there were 15 health workers "suspected" of having contracted the virus who were under observation and that some of them had already "tested" positive.
“I want to report that I am on duty at the SPF, Devotee Unit. There is no security measure in all Devotees (...), all this is contaminated, the inmates have not yet been emptied for the flu and another more important thing and what they should do is spray all Devotees three times a day (...) in all places in the unit (…). Please activate and compel fumigations three times a day in all Devotees, even with the same inmates who work ”, detailed the document presented at the time.
"We were all working at Devoto until before being interned or referred to our homes," one of the 15 employees assured this newspaper. Anyway, the SPF maintains that the confirmed case this Thursday of one of its agents is the first positive that was registered in the prison and that is why six other prisons from the same shift were isolated.
The Devoto prison, opened in 1927, is the only prison facility that lasts in the city of Buenos Aires, although the authorities plan to transfer the more than 2,000 detainees to the prison being built in Marcos Paz.
The prison population currently has a population of 1,692 detainees: 385 are convicted and more than 1,300 are prosecuted. From December until now, 233 prisoners have been released from the prison.