Court orders compensation to relatives of fire victims

Santiago, Chile, Jul 31 (Prensa Latina) The Court of Appeals of Santiago on Tuesday sentenced the Treasury to compensate 307 relatives of the 81 inmates who perished in a fire in the prison of the Chilean commune of San Miguel in 2010.

July 31, 2024
01:16

On December 8, 2010, after a fight, the fire started in that detention center, which also left 16 injured and forced the evacuation of 200 inmates.

The court found that the State acted negligently by not fulfilling its duty to guarantee security inside the prisons and to ensure the physical integrity of the inmates.

According to reports published here, the total compensation to the victims’ families amounts to over 7.4 billion pesos (some 7.7 million dollars).

The fire is considered one of the worst tragedies in Chile’s penitentiary system and revealed the reality of overcrowding and disorganization in prisons.

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