This is being considered by the Interior Ministry's coordinator of targeted crime prevention strategies, Sergio Sanjurjo, who announced the holding of a consultation on penal reform, the results of which are expected to be available in July.
The proposal comes to light after four inmates died in a fire in a cell at Santiago Vázquez prison in that capital.
Seven out of 10 people who go to prison are rearrested for committing a new crime within the next five years, Sanjurjo told La Diaria.
“This means that our prison system only rehabilitates three out of 10 convicts and that most of the current crimes are committed by people who have already been through the prison system,” he said.
According to the official, the prison system “not only is not a solution, but it also causes crime.”
For its part, the opposition party Frente Amplio called on Interior Minister Nicolás Martinelli for a larger budget for the expansion of squares and the creation of vacancies that improve the quality of life of people deprived of their freedom.
With around 15,000 people behind bars, Uruguay has one of the highest prison population rates on the continent.
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