TIJUANA Prison directors in Mexico's northwest region met Monday in this city to talk about a variety of issues they face, from overcrowding to the need for broad rehabilitation programs.
Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán boasted of the work his administration has done in his opening remarks in the sixth annual National Conference of the Penitentiary System, being held at the Camino Real Hotel.
He said that his government has significantly improved conditions in the state's prisons, particularly in the area of overcrowding.
He said Baja's prisons have gone from being 87 percent above capacity to the current 13 per cent. And he said that state has created a model to reintegrate inmates into society.
A leading representative of the prisoners' families sees it very differently.
The president of the commission that represents current and former inmates in the penitentiary system, Alicia Aguilar, said in an interview that the state is still far from having a successful rehabilitation model.
"We have documented cases of torture in the penitentiaries of La Mesa (in Tijuana) and El Hongo
(Tecate) and at least a dozen threats to riot in the last two years to protest the conditions the inmates live in," she said. "There are still some cells in Tijuana that house 20 to 30 inmates.
Under those conditions you can't re-integrate ex-convicts well into society."
In September of 2008, two riots swept the La Mesa state prison after a guard tortured and killed an inmate.
Officially, 23 people died in the uprisings, which severely damaged the facility.
The governor told the conference participants that his administration is focused on meeting the prisoners' health needs and providing education and training to prevent recidivism.
He said his government has dealt with the severe overcrowding at the La Mesa prison by transferring more than 2,000 inmates to El Hongo.
And he said 7,254 new spaces have been added to the state's prisons, which now are 13 per cent over capacity. His goal is to have that number drop to 3 per cent by next year, he added.
Other speakers at the conference argued that inmates need five fundamental services to improve their quality of life: work, training, education, health and sports.
For his part, the deputy secretary of the federal penitentiary system, José Patricio Patiño, who headed the conference, said federal government will begin a process to certify the states' prisons with the goal of improving their living conditions.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
