Chile to end Pinochet henchmen’s pampered prison life of tennis and barbecues | Chile

Inmates at Chile’s notorious high-security military prison, which housed perpetrators of human rights crimes during the dictatorship, are set to lose their privileged conditions under plans to integrate the prison into the public prison network.

Punta Peuco will be converted into a regular prison to deal with overcrowding in the penal system, President Gabriel Boric announced Monday.

A far cry from the cramped conditions in most Chilean prisons, inmates at Punta Peuco reportedly had access to large common areas that included tennis courts, barbecue facilities, a library and a television room.

It has long been seen as a symbol of the preferential treatment afforded to people convicted of human rights abuses under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who were allowed to serve their sentences in specially designated facilities, away from common criminals.

“There is no justification for Chile to have such a private prison,” Boric said.

“From today, there will no longer be first and second category prisoners in Chile. Places will be determined not by privileges, but by security criteria. This is a step towards a more democratic Chile, more respectful of human dignity.”

According to Chile’s prison service, 141 men are being held in Punta Peuco, with an average age of around 80. Many are former members of Pinochet’s intelligence service and secret police.

Among them is Miguel Krassnoff, who is serving more than 1,000 years in prison for human rights crimes.

The prison service cited security concerns while refusing to comment on whether current inmates would be removed from Punta Peuco or integrated into a common prison population.

Far-right presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, who visited Krasnoff in Punta Peuco and had previously rejected the release of imprisoned human rights offenders, criticized Boric’s decision and accused the president of trying to build a legacy in the final months of his term.

Ahead of the November 16 elections, leading communist candidate Jeannette Jara praised the decision to turn Punta Peuco into a joint prison, saying it “always should have happened.”

The custom-made prison opened in 1995 to house General Manuel Contreras, head of Pinochet’s intelligence agency, and Brigadier General Pedro Espinoza, who along with Contreras were convicted of killing former foreign minister Orlando Letelier in a car bomb attack in Washington, D.C., in 1976.

There have been many attempts to close Punta Peuco over the years.

Former president Michelle Bachelet tried to get an order to close the prison signed in the final hours of her second term in March 2018, but as midnight approached, the justice minister decided not to sign the order.

In 2013, right-wing president Sebastián Piñera surprised many by closing the Prison Cordillera, another cushy prison where former soldiers were convicted of human rights abuses. There was open veranda space and 10 inmates lived quietly in five cabins.

Boric confirmed that structural work is already underway in Punta Peuco and that an office and lookout point is being built on one of the old sports fields.

New prisoners will be brought to Punta Peuco early next year, when the facility will be known as Tiltil Prison.