Guatemala Opens Renovated Maximum-Security Prison to Combat Gang Control

The president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, inaugurated a renovated maximum-security prison this Tuesday after it was reclaimed from the control of gangs that ordered murders and extortions from there, and even had wild animals.”Today begins (…) a new era in the Guatemalan penitentiary system,” said the president at the now-called Renovation I Maximum Security Detention Center, in Escuintla, 70 km south of the capital.

This prison, which was previously known as “El Infiernito,” was taken over last June by dozens of police and military personnel, who found weapons, money, liquor, and wild animals such as crocodiles and foxes on the site. “It was a headquarters from where criminals could perpetuate their business, ironically while serving their sentence,” he stated, pointing out that from “El Infiernito,” crimes such as “extortion,” “drug trafficking,” and contract killings were committed.

The 225 members of the Barrio 18 gang who were incarcerated were transferred to another prison while the restructuring took place, during which surveillance and metal detection systems were installed. Arévalo noted that the Renovation I Center will be “a model” in the project that seeks to “transform everything” in the penitentiary system.

Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez compared “El Infiernito” to “a real university of crime,” where control was exercised by the inmates.The prison had become a “vacation center,” and “the audacity was such that the inmates even had a zoo with collections of exotic animals and even endangered species,” he commented.

Authorities announced that 260 high-risk gang members will soon be transferred to the Renovation I Center. The Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are fighting for control of territories to demand extortion payments from citizens, and those who refuse to pay are murdered, according to authorities.

Authorities recognize that most extortion phone calls originate from prisons. In Guatemala, there are 25 prisons holding more than 22,800 people, according to official data.