Chile to end Pinochet henchmen’s pampered prison life of tennis and barbecues

Inmates at an infamous high-security military prison in Chile, which houses the perpetrators of dictatorship-era human rights crimes, are set to lose their privileged conditions under plans to incorporate the prison into the public prison network.

President Gabriel Boric announced on Monday that Punta Peuco is being transformed into a regular prison to help deal with overcrowding in the penitentiary system.

A far cry from the cramped conditions in the majority of Chile’s prisons, inmates at Punta Peuco reportedly have access to ample common areas with tennis courts, barbecue facilities, a library and television room.

It has long been viewed as a symbol of the preferential treatment afforded to those convicted of human rights abuses under Gen Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, who are often allowed to serve their terms away from common criminals in specially designated facilities.

“The fact that Chile has a special prison like this has no justification,” said Boric.

“From today forward, Chile will no longer have first and secondary category prisoners. Places will be decided according to security criteria, not privilege … this is a step further in the direction of a more democratic Chile, which is more respectful of human dignity.”

According to Chile’s prison service, 141 men are held at Punta Peuco with an average age of about 80. Most are former members of Pinochet’s intelligence service and secret police.

Among them is Miguel Krassnoff, who is serving a sentence of more than 1,000 years for human rights crimes.

The prison service cited security concerns when declining to comment on whether current inmates will be moved away from Punta Peuco or integrated into a common prison population.

The far-right presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, who has visited Krasnoff at Punta Peuco and previously refused to rule out freeing the prison’s human rights criminals, criticised Boric’s decision and accused the president of seeking to build a legacy in the final months of his mandate.

The communist candidate Jeannette Jara, another frontrunner ahead of the 16 November election, praised the decision to turn Punta Peuco into a common jail, which she said it “should always have been”.

The bespoke prison was opened in 1995 to house Gen Manuel Contreras, the head of Pinochet’s intelligence service, and Brig Pedro Espinoza, who alongside Contreras was convicted of the 1976 murder of former foreign minister Orlando Letelier in a car bomb attack in Washington DC.

There have been several attempts to close Punta Peuco over the years.

In the final hours of former president Michelle Bachelet’s second term in March 2018, she attempted to have an order signed for the prison to be closed, but as midnight ticked by, her justice minister decided against signing the order.

In 2013, rightwing president Sebastián Piñera surprised many by closing Penal Cordillera, another comfortable prison which held former service members convicted of human rights abuses. It had an outdoor patio area and its 10 inmates lived quietly in five cabins.

Boric confirmed that structural works were already under way inside Punta Peuco, and an office and surveillance post were being built on one of its former sports pitches.

New inmates will be brought to Punta Peuco as early as the beginning of next year, when the facility will become known as Tiltil Penitentiary.