| Date | 8 December 2010 |
|---|---|
| Time | 5:30 a.m. |
| Location | Santiago, Chile |
| Casualties | |
| 81 people killed | |
| 19 people injured | |
The 2010 Santiago prison fire occurred in the San Miguel prison in Santiago, Chile on 8 December 2010, in which 81 inmates were killed, making it the country's deadliest prison incident. [1]
The fire broke out at 5:30am Chile Daylight Time (8:30am GMT) on the fourth floor during a fight between rival gangs. An improvised flamethrower was reportedly used, setting mattresses and other flammable material alight. [2] Those killed were trapped behind closed gates.
Local firefighters took around three hours to bring the fire under control. [1] [3]
At least 81 inmates were reported killed, and 14 suffered life-threatening burns, according to the Health Minister Jaime Mañalich. One firefighter and two prison guards also suffered lesser injuries. [4] According to Chile's Fundacion Paz Ciudadana, the prison's capacity is 892, but was heavily overcrowded with 1,654 inmates. [1] An investigation found out there was not a suitable emergency procedure in place.
During the fire at a prison in Santiago, Chile, though the fire occurred at 5:30, the firefighters were not informed until 5:48 when they received an emergency call from inside the prison. Once they were notified, 60 inmates had to be evacuated immediately to ensure the firefighters could quickly be in control of the fire. The situation was difficult, since the prison held 1,900 prisoners, which is double the number that the prison was originally designed to hold. Chile’s prison system is more than seventy percent over its maximum capacity. The fire occurred on visiting day, so about 5,000 relatives were gathered outside when word of the deaths spread. When the prison police director began to read survivors’ names over a megaphone, the relatives thought he was identifying the dead and some began to burst into tears or screaming, some fainting, and others throwing stones. Many family members waited for hours before receiving an update on their loved ones. Some visitors pressed their faces up against the fence and called out to inmates still inside. Some of the inmates managed to put their hands though the bars of their cell windows and waved T-shirts and bedsheets to show their relatives that they were still alive. Along with the 81 inmates killeded, and the 14 that suffered from injuries, 11 prison guards and 1 firefighter were also injured as a result from this tragedy. Inside the prison there were only 6 guards, 26 of the guards remained outside. It was reported that many of the prison guards had prevented firefighters from entering the prison once they had arrived. [5]
The incident prompted Chile's president Sebastián Piñera to launch an investigation and he called for an end to the overcrowding in the country's prison system, saying: "We cannot keep living with a prison system which is absolutely inhumane. We are going to speed up the process to ensure our country has a humane, dignified prison system that befits a civilised country." [1]
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic politician and diplomat, he studied business administration at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and economics at Harvard University. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of US$2.7 billion, according to Forbes, making him the third richest person in Chile and the 1177th richest person in the world.
William C. Holman Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections prison located in Atmore, Alabama. The facility is along Alabama State Highway 21, 9 miles (14 km) north of Atmore in southern Alabama.
Prison in Chile are generally poor. Prisons often are overcrowded and antiquated, with substandard sanitary conditions.
Concerns about human rights in Chile include discrimination against indigenous populations; societal violence and discrimination against women, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people; child labor; and harsh prison conditions and treatment. Additional human rights concerns in the country include use of excessive force and abuse by security forces, isolated reports of government corruption, and anti-Semitism. Authorities generally maintain effective control over the security forces. However, security forces occasionally commit human rights abuses. The government generally takes steps to prosecute officials who commit abuses. Nevertheless, many human rights organizations contend that security officials accused of committing abuses have impunity.
The 2010 Chile blackout was an electric power outage that affected most of Chile on March 14, 2010. It began at 8:44 pm on Sunday and continued into the next day. The power was restored in a few hours in some areas, and by midnight in most areas, except in the Biobío Region.
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known then as the "Chilean mining accident", began on 5 August 2010, with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert 45 kilometers (28 mi) north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern Chile. Thirty-three men were trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) underground and 5 kilometers (3 mi) from the mine's entrance, and were rescued after 69 days.
San Francisco Church is a Catholic church located in Barón Hill, Valparaíso, Chile. The church served as lighthouse to the navigants who were arriving Valparaíso until the early 20th century, being the first recognizable point of the city. Valparaíso is often nicknamed with the diminutive form of Francisco: Pancho.
The 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurred when the San Jose Mine near to Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, leaving 33 miners of Chilean nationality and one Bolivian miner trapped inside about 700 metres below the surface. The men were trapped in the mine for 69 days before being rescued. The discovery of the miners and their eventual rescue received global attention, with over 2000 members of the media reporting from the San Jose Mine. Global leaders expressed good wishes for the rescue and congratulations upon its successful completion.
Events in the year 2010 in Chile.
A deadly fire occurred on 14–15 February 2012 at the National Penitentiary in Comayagua, Honduras, killing 361 people. Prisoners trapped in their cells died by burning or suffocation; dozens were burned beyond recognition. The fire started late in the evening of 14 February. According to one prisoner, calls for help went out almost immediately and "for a while, nobody listened. But after a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, a guard appeared with keys and let us out." Rescue forces did not arrive until about 40 minutes later.
On 20 August 2012, armed prisoners in the Yare I prison complex, an overcrowded prison in Miranda state near Caracas, Venezuela, rioted. A shootout between two groups resulted in the deaths of 25 people, one of them a visitor. Among those injured during the incident were 29 inmates and 14 visitors.
On August 23, 2013, a prison riot broke out at Palmasola, a maximum-security prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The riot started when members of one cell block attacked a rival gang in another, using propane tanks as flame throwers. Thirty-one people were killed, including an 18-month-old child who was living at the prison. Thirty-seven others were seriously injured. The riot led to calls for reform in the Bolivian prison system, which is plagued by overcrowding and long delays in the trial system.
Prison violence is a daily occurrence due to the diversity of inmates with varied criminal backgrounds in penitentiaries. The three different types of attacks are inmate on inmate, inmate on guard, and self-inflicted. These attacks can either be impulsive and spontaneous or well-planned out and premeditated. Factors such as gang rivalries, overcrowding, minor disputes, and prison design contribute to violent attacks. Prisons are trying to avoid, or at least better deal with these situations by being proactive. They are taking steps like placing violent convicts and gang leaders into solitary confinement, balancing the cells by critically examining each inmate to see where they are likely to reside peacefully, reducing blind spots, and training as well as educating the officers.
On 10 February 2016, a prison riot broke out at the Topo Chico prison near Monterrey, in northern Mexico. 49 inmates were killed during the riot and ensuing fire. The riot was the most deadly in Mexican penal history, surpassing the death toll of the 2012 Apodaca prison riot. After the rioting, authorities uncovered 'luxury cells' prison leaders had. Among the items confiscated included televisions, mini-fridges, aquariums, and saunas.
On 28 March 2018, a fire broke out during a prison riot in the cells at the Carabobo state police headquarters in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. The fire killed at least 68 people and injured scores of others. The fire is one of the deadliest incidents ever in a Venezuelan prison since the 1994 Sabaneta prison fire, in which more than 100 inmates died.
A series of massive demonstrations and severe riots, known in Chile as the Estallido Social, originated in Santiago and took place in all regions of Chile, with a greater impact in the regional capitals. The protests mainly occurred between October 2019 and March 2020, in response to a raise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, a probity crisis, cost of living, university graduate unemployment, privatisation, and inequality prevalent in the country.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) runs 44 conservation camps jointly with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The mission of the Conservation Camp program is to "support state, local and federal government agencies as they respond to emergencies such as fires, floods, and other natural or manmade disasters." Over 3,000 incarcerated people work at the conservation camps each year, including men, women, and juveniles, all of whom have volunteered for the program. All volunteers receive the same entry-level training as CAL FIRE's seasonal firefighters.
On 23 February 2021, 79 inmates were killed and several others were injured in riots that took place simultaneously in four prisons in Ecuador. Authorities gave gang rivalry in an overcrowded prison system as the cause. The violence happened in prisons located in the Guayas, Azuay, and Cotopaxi provinces, which contain nearly 70% of the total prison population in the country.
On 8 September 2021, a fire occurred in an overcrowded prison block in the city of Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia, in Greater Jakarta. The fire began at about 01:45 WIB in sector C of the Tangerang prison, killing 41 inmates and injuring a further 75. More victims succumbed to their injuries in the following days, raising the death toll to 49.
On 28 June 2022, a fire broke out during a riot inside a prison in Tuluá, Colombia killing at least 52 people and injuring at least 34.
