The decision is part of a program announced by the Ministry of Interior (MI) to immediately address the crisis in the prison system, especially after the fire in module 11 of the referred prison, in which four inmates lost their lives.

The National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) began with the relocation of about 140 inmates per week in the most overcrowded modules.

According to official figures, the former Comcar prison has enough capacity for three thousand inmates, but incarcerated population is around five thousand, the largest in the system. The penitentiary commissioner Juan Miguel Petit considered modules four, 10 and 11 as “the worst” at national level.

In turn, the Minister of the Interior, Carlos Negro, described them as “unsustainable”.

The “decompression” began in modules 10 and 11, considered “maximum security”.

The Ministry of the Interior announced a month ago that 600 new agents are expected to enter the prisons.

During the last fire in the former Comcar there were only seven officers in charge of 700 inmates.

jrr/jav/mem/ool