At 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 28, Nicolás López entered the Casablanca Provisional Detention Center (CDP), in the Valparaíso Region. The admission came following a special appeal filed by his defense, headed by the lawyer Paula Vial, who sought that the filmmaker not be transferred to the common modules of Santiago 1, where he had to serve his preventive detention. The above, following being sentenced to 5 years and one day following being found guilty of repeated sexual abuse.
López’s defense had insisted that the filmmaker be transferred to the Capitán Yáber Annex, penitentiary center in Santiago with special penitentiary conditions and with low danger for its inmates. However, the Gendarmerie refused said request, arguing that the premises were intended for defendants who are not accused of crimes once morest persons and giving Casablanca as an alternative, a recommendation to which the Viña del Mar Oral Criminal Court agreed last Friday.
After his arrival at the Valparaíso Region prison, and through a statement, Gendarmerie reported that “like any new entry to the penal unit, and following the sanitary protocol, the accused will remain in the preventive isolation zone, quarantining for seven days. It should be noted that López is in good health, and his transfer from Santiago took place normally.”
Even before your transfer, Director of So sad your life he was isolated in the Health Area (ASA) of Santiago 1, where he complied with the Covid protocol, which establishes that new interns must spend a week in that place before entering the common modules together with the rest of the internal.
However, his defense filed a series of appeals, including those who argued that he presented paintings of “anxiety, negativity, social withdrawal, hypervigilance, and pervasive emotional detachment (general distrust of relationships).” The picture -however- was denied by the Gendarmerie, following the ASA doctor, José Arce Olavarría, assured in his report that the accused does not present “psychotic symptoms”. He added that López “does not present suicidal risk behaviors or conflicts with other inmates”, finishing off that his state of mind was normal and calm, so he might be transferred to common units, since he was discharged from hospital. hospitalization.
López’s entrance to the Casablanca compound It is given while waiting for the Supreme Court to review the appeal regarding the amparo that was rejected by the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso last week and with which his defense sought to reverse the preventive detention.
The CDP of Casablanca is located next to the police station of that commune, in front of the square and one block from the municipality. It does not have a large fence around it, but it does have a gate a little higher than the walls of the adjoining buildings. The back of the prison even adjoins some houses in the sector.
It is a rather small enclosure, according to information from the Gendarmerie, it has a capacity for 70 inmates, currently in that place there are 57 inmates. Of these, all are men, 36 of them are convicted and 21 charged. A connoisseur of the place pointed to The Third PM, that the vast majority of people who are in this prison are considered “first-timers” in criminal matters and represent a low risk of recidivism. In addition, 75% of them are there for crimes of sexual connotation.
The prison facility is considered to have a “medium” security index, unlike other facilities in the region. Currently, the place has 78.6% occupancy, somewhat low for other venues. Until 2020, this center represented only 2% of the Gendarmerie inmates in the Valparaíso Region.
Approximately 39 Gendarmerie officials work in the place in the different shifts that exist in that enclosure. According to a report by the National Institute of Human Rights, the relationship between uniformed officers and inmates “is good and respectful and there would be few conflicts.”
The situation of that CDP allows that, despite having a punishment cell, it is not used, since the sanctions in that place have been replaced “by the suspension of visits and parcels.” There are also no security cameras on the premises.
The Casablanca CDP has three modules: two for convicts and one for defendants, which are segregated. The first of them is for defendants, the second is “high security” and the third module is for people with a “low, medium criminal commitment and sexual crimes.”
The corridors of the enclosure, according to the INDH report, are more than 70 centimeters wide, in addition to having electric and natural light and good ventilation. In addition, he qualifies that “the hygiene and cleanliness of the place are good”.
The room for defendants – where López will be once his quarantine is over – is eight by six meters and is a collective bedroom. The same INDH report ensures that the windows are “covered with brass, cardboard, plastic or other elements.” Unlike what happens with the places for the condemned, in this place there is light that works throughout the day.
The bathroom of the place is shared by the inmates who are in the accused module, since it is inside the cell. Furthermore, each You must have your own toilet paper and soap, as they are considered personal items.
In the patio, according to the same report, there is a ping-pong table and taca taca. In the enclosure, in addition, the inmates receive four daily meals: breakfast is at 08:30, lunch at 12:00, lunch at 16:00 and, finally, a snack at 17:30. Finally, the confinement time for all the accused is at 5:00 p.m.
