A possible path toward prison reform in Uruguay
For a decade, Juan Miguel Petit led a sustained monitoring of the Uruguayan prison system from the Parliamentary Commission. His reports reveal structural problems: overcrowding, violence, and conditions that the report itself describes as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in approximately 40% of cases. About to close out his second term, Petit insists that prison is the default sanction and and sustained measures
Overcrowding and violence: the urgency of diagnosis
Overcrowding is a major source of problems: deteriorating spaces, poor hygiene, and people sleeping on the floor. This turns prisons into hotbeds of health and social risk and fuels internal violence. If mass incarceration is not addressed, partial interventions only mitigate the problem without solving it.
Alternative Measures: What was missing and what we propose
Petit warns that alternative measures remain weak and implausible due to their limited administrative structure. Reversing the relationship between prisons and alternative measures requires robust programs, technical oversight, and specialized resources. Proposals include expanding assisted house arrest and strengthening mechanisms to prevent unnecessary pretrial detention.
National Rehabilitation Institute: Why decentralize?
The commissioner argues that the INR is "buried" under the Ministry of the Interior and that its decentralization is key to leading comprehensive policies. An autonomous institute could coordinate health , education, and reintegration and stop depending on the goodwill of other institutions. The lack of this institutional voice hinders long-term plans and the implementation of regional programs.
Human Rights: Responsibility of the State and Justice
The reports maintain that the persistence of degrading conditions requires judicial and administrative responses. Petit calls for the judiciary to consider detention conditions when setting sentences and to facilitate access to remedies such as habeas corpus. He also proposes that the judiciary evaluate claims of degrading treatment and assess state responsibility when appropriate.
The report Petit presented proposes three specific legal reforms: restoring mechanisms for reducing sentences, reactivating conditional suspension of proceedings for minor offenses , and expanding the application of procedural articles that allow for deferring prison sentences. These tools seek to adjust criminal sanctions without compromising society and reduce prison overcrowding.
The assessment also calls for the closure and repair of facilities in critical condition, such as the Comcar units, the Libertad prison, and other centers with collapsed infrastructure. Maintaining unsafe facilities is not only unconstitutional; it has a social and economic cost that ultimately worsens reintegration. The proposal involves combining strategic closures with the redistribution of human and healthcare resources.
