6,000 Prisoners Revolt Overcrowding, Slow Courts Cause Wave Of Uprisings In Argentina

Prison uprisings spread through Buenos Aires province Tuesday as more than 6,000 inmates in at least eight prisons demanded better living conditions and faster treatment of their cases in court.

Eight inmates and four guards were injured when officers quelled a revolt in Mercedes prison 60 miles west of the capital, the Noticias Argentinas news agency reported.

Negotiations at Sierra Chica prison, 250 miles south of Buenos Aires, where inmates hold 20 hostages, were stalled and the situation “remained unchanged” late Tuesday, a Federal Penitentiary Service statement said.

Trouble broke out at Sierra Chica over the weekend when 16 armed inmates were caught scaling the wall. On being repelled by guards, the inmates took hostages, including a judge, Maria Malere, who was trying to negotiate with them.

Almost simultaneously, other revolts began at the provincial prisons of Olmos, Azul and La Plata, where a total of 10 hostages were taken, all of them prison guards.

On Tuesday, the revolts spread to the prisons of Mercedes, Dolores and Ezeiza, while inmates went on hunger strikes at Junin, Bahia Blanca and Los Hornos, Noticias Argentinas reported.

A gunfight between opposing groups of inmates at Sierra Chica on Monday reportedly killed three.

Penitentiary Service Chief Lorenzo Nunez said, however, that the deaths could not be confirmed.

Inmates’ uprisings are common in Argentina, where many jails are overcrowded and underfunded. Azul prison, built in 1916 with a capacity of 184 inmates, now holds 354. So far this year, there have been seven uprisings across the country.