This is the opinion of the coordinator of Focused Strategies for Crime Prevention of the Ministry of the Interior, Sergio Sanjurjo, who announced the launching of a consultancy on prison reform, the results of which should be ready in July.

The proposal comes to light after the death of four inmates in an arson attack in a cell of the Santiago Vazquez prison, in this capital.

Seven out of every 10 people who pass through prisons are re-arrested for committing a new crime within five years, Sanjurjo told La Diaria.

“That means that our penitentiary system only re-socializes three out of every 10 convicts and that most of the current crimes are committed by people who have already passed through the penitentiary system,” he added.

According to the Sanjurjo, the prison system “not only is not a solution, but also causes delinquency”.

The opposition party “Frente Amplio” asked the Minister of the Interior, Nicolás Martinelli, for a larger budget for the expansion of places and the creation of vacancies to improve the quality of life of people deprived of liberty.

With some 15,000 people behind bars, Uruguay has one of the highest prison population rates on the continent.

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