The existence of death figures in prisons is crucial to adopt serious, timely and effective public policies. This study seeks to demonstrate the national reality and provide solutions to current problems. To achieve our objective, we studied the figures between January 2019 and December 2022, covering all the prisons in Chile.
Our main source of information is the Chilean Gendarmerie, the institution in charge of the custody and reinsertion of persons deprived of liberty due to pretrial detention or conviction. But it was necessary to resort to other sources in order to demonstrate the Chilean reality and the shortcomings that exist when determining why people die in prisons and what is done about it.
In order to facilitate the reading of the information collected, we compiled statistics considering the sex, age, nationality, cause of death and the place where the persons deprived of liberty were located at the time of death.
We also dedicate a chapter to explain how the issue of deaths in prisons in different parts of the planet is covered.
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Francisco Molina Jerez
Lawyer, ONG Leasur, Chile
Graduate in Law from the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción in Chile. Master's Degree in Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences from the University of Barcelona and the Pompeu Fabra University. He has been a Public Criminal Defender since 2013, with exclusive dedication to prison defense between 2014 and 2021 in different regions of Chile. Member of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation. Coordinator of the Litigation Department of LEASUR ONG.
