SANTIAGO – The Supreme Court judicial prosecutor, Lya Cabello, on Friday confirmed that to date, a third of the country’s inmates have been released from national jails in the wake of an unprecedented health crisis affecting Chile due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As many as 13,321 inmates were released from prison between March 18 and May 31, of the 39,677 that make up the total prison population in the country, the El Mercurio reported.
Of the inmates who left the detention centers, eight thousand were convicted and another five thousand were accused.
Among the reported reasons for granting them freedom are the commutative pardon announced by the Government of Chile for the pandemic, changes in precautionary measures and conditional liberties.
Chile, which has the highest totals for coronavirus cases in Latin America, reported 92 new deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of victims to 1,448. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 122,449.
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