This morning, rioting took place in San Miguel's Prison located in Santiago, Chile. A few inmates deliberately sparked a fire inside the building that ended up flaming out of control. The prison is completely overcrowded and even the Chilean President started, "the conditions that exist inside this prison are absolutely inhumane." These conditions that President Sebastian Pinera referred to allowed for this fire to cause a maximum amount of casualties, totaling to 83. It also severely burned an additional 14 victims. Camera shots show black smoke billowing from within the building and inmates attempting to crowd the jail's walls in hope of escape. The truly horrific part of this story is the way that the jail guards reacted to the fatal blaze. Some guards laughed and took pictures of the inmates vomiting from smoke inhalation. Then the guards proceeded in evacuating the safe floors rather than the inmates who were in imminent danger and dying. This story showcases how some jails are in complete disarray and need to be reformed.
I’m very shocked! I would expect the guards to help the inmates and not torture them by leaving the inmates there to burn and take pictures.
ReplyDeleteConditions like these make me wonder if other building have planned escape routes in the case of a fire or another emergency. Chile has been humiliated internationally from this incident.
ReplyDeleteEvents like these reflect the president of a country. How can the president of Chile be criticizing the conditions of this jail instead of doing something about it? From this incident we can clearly see that these jails are in a desperate need of reform. I am not shocked at all to see the reaction of the guards, because it has always been known how abusive of power they are. This just shows how cruel and heartless the guards at a jail can be. I mean how can they just stand there and laugh while these poor men are burning to death? I understand some of these men are criminals, but is this really the right way to make them "pay" for their crimes? After all that is why they are in jail, to pay for whatever it was they did.
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