Mexico City (EFE).- The Mexican government will build six new prisons, scheduled for completion by 2028, in the states of Chiapas, Mexico, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Veracruz, in response to prison overcrowding caused by the arrest of 70,000 people during the current administration.
On Tuesday’s morning press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum explained that the intensification of security efforts led to an increase in the prison population, which is why the federal government will fund and support the construction of these facilities.
“70,000 people have been arrested since we took office (…) This has indeed led to overcrowding in some prisons, and we cannot allow it,” the president stated.
The Mexican leader emphasized that prison overcrowding cannot be allowed for “human rights and security” reasons.
Sheinbaum clarified that the project envisions a public, not a private, model, stressing that “these will not be privately operated facilities as they were in the previous administration; they will be operated by the Federal Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection or the Secretariat of Security of the States of the Republic.”
Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar García Harfuch explained that the planned infrastructure will have a total projected capacity of 18,480 spaces equipped with surveillance technology, signal jamming, and risk-level differentiated modules.
García Harfuch noted that the first project will begin in Sinaloa with a facility supported by federal funds to house 2,640 inmates, as a priority in the wake of the recent clashes at the Mazatlán prison that left 12 dead.
The security minister emphasized that the goal is «for the state to maintain effective control over correctional facilities so criminal organizations cannot continue to operate from within them.»
Jacobo Rodríguez, head of Prevention and Social Reintegration within the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, added that the Presidency’s Legal Counsel is analyzing legal alternatives and the possible release of individuals charged with minor offenses to «create a balance in the prison system.» The State of Mexico is a priority due to its high levels of overcrowding.
The construction of prisons is taking place amid an increase in violence nationwide, including recent clashes at the Mazatlán prison that left 12 people dead, as well as a surge in arrests.EFE
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