translated from Spanish: Minister Larraín: “There will be no transfers to other criminal enclosures, less from one region to another, if there is no negative PCR”

This day the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Hernan Larraín, together with the undersecretary of the portfolio, Sebastián Valenzuela, held a meeting remotely with the Covid-19 Bureau where they took stock of the prison situation in the midst of the pandemic. Larraín stated that “there will be no transfers to other criminal precincts, less from one region to another, if there is no negative PCR and all the requirements and requirements that this protocol will establish that we are talking to the technical health table is met.” “If we are going to make a transfer, because it is what the health situation recommends, it will be done with a transfer protocol, which is going to be absolutely definitive,” he said. At the instance, the Secretary of State explained that there are three lines of action to counter the progress of Covid-19 in prisons consisting of “defining a transfer policy”; “apply outbreak testing when there are major or unusual contagions,” and “strengthen personal protection elements for inmates and officials.” The other line of work is preventive testing. It’s a model we made with college rectors and their medical schools. We apply this in the former Penitentiary, and we want to do it more systematically. So far we have not had the means, but we have already agreed with the Ministry of Health to move forward in this area,” he added. In addition, Hernán Larraín reported that “at this time we have requested from 1,000 PCRs, which will allow us to test 4,000 or 5,000 people in different places, in specific spaces where there are unusual outbreaks, to detect confirmed and asymptomatic cases”. Finally, the holder of the portfolio asserted that 1,566 prisoners have received the commutative pardon that took effect last April.

Original source in Spanish