- Source: Punta Peuco Prison
Punta Peuco Prison (Penal de Punta Peuco), officially Centro de Detención Preventiva y Cumplimiento Penitenciario Especial Punta Peuco, is a prison located in the municipality of Tiltil, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Punta Peuco is a special facility specifically built in 1995 for individuals convicted by the Judiciary of "crimes against humanity" and "human rights abuses" during the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90). The Judiciary uses the old criminal procedure system originated in 1906 for these cases, without the guarantees introduced with the reform carried out between 2000 and 2005.
The prison, which holds approximately 130 inmates, is considerably more modern than a standard Chilean jail. After considerable military protest and insubordination in response to the sentences against violations of the human rights, Punta Peuco was built within a military community, but the prison is administered by the Chilean Gendarmerie, the national prison service, similar to the country's other prisons.
In June and October 1995, convicted Caravan of Death commanders Manuel Contreras and Pedro Espinoza were incarcerated at the prison, respectively. 22 July 1995 some 1,500 people, many of them members of the army, attended a rally outside the Punta Peuco prison in solidarity for Brigadier Espinoza. Inmates have included Manuel Contreras, Raúl Iturriaga, Miguel Krassnoff, Pedro Espinoza and Marcelo Moren Brito.
Between 2020 and 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prison suffered an outbreak. Nearly 70 percent of the inmates (~80 out of 110+) fell ill. Five of them died:
General Héctor Orozco, 93, died on 26 October 2020. Since 2017, he had been serving a 10-year sentence for his role in the murders of two left-wing activists.
Colonel Jaime García Zamorano, 85, died on 3 September 2021. Since 2014, he had been serving a 7-year sentence for his role in the massacre of 18 peasants.
Miguel Estay Reyno, 68, died on 4 September 2021. Since 1995, he had been serving a life sentence for his role in the kidnapping and murder of three Communists.
Air Force commander Luis Enrique Campos Poblete, 82, died on 5 September 2021. Since 2017, he had been serving a 17-year sentence for murder of a leftist and the kidnapping of another leftist.
Marco Antonio Bustos Carrasco, 61, died on 11 September 2021. Since 2017, he had been serving a 5-year sentence for his complicity in the kidnappings of five leftists who were later murdered.
Inmates
Manuel Contreras
Pedro Espinoza
Álvaro Corbalán
Miguel Krassnoff
Raúl Iturriaga
Jorge del Río
Marcelo Moren Brito
José Zara Holger
César Manríquez
Hugo Salas Wenzel
Carlos Herrera Jiménez
Guillermo González Betancourt
Juan Fuentes Castro
Claudio Salazar Fuentes
Alejandro Saez Mardones
Patricio Zamora Rodríguez
Manuel Muñoz Gamboa
Fernando Valdés Cid
Fernando Torres Silva
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Punta Peuco Prison
- Prisons in Chile
- Álvaro Corbalán
- Raúl Iturriaga
- Tragedy of Antuco
- Marcelo Moren Brito
- Hernán Chacón Soto
- Operation Albania
- Basclay Zapata
- Chilean mail bombs case