President Alberto Fernández said he was concerned about the situation in Argentina's prisons amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"I am trying to make sure that we can control the issue in a rational way. But it's not a problem of Argentina, it's a problem of the whole world," he said in an interview with an Argentine radio station.

The statement comes after somes cases were confirmed among some inmates, and prisons jumped to the public agenda like a time bomb.

There were riots in prisons in Florencio Varela (Buenos Aires province), Devoto (Buenos Aires city), and in the provinces of Santa Fe and Corrientes.

Prisons before the COVID-19 outbreak were already a complex issue, with varying situations.

Overcrowding, the different conditions among those who have firm sentences or awaiting trial were a reality that the pandemic worsened.

In this context, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recommended that countries which are signatories of the San José de Costa Rica pact (like Argentina) attend to the health situation in prisons.

In this context, there were complaints by crime victims' associations and the Minister of Women's Affairs, Ely Gómez Alcorta, about the release in the province of Buenos Aires of prisoners who face charges of gender violence or sexual abuse.

The issue became a news story because some of those released returned to live in the same house or in the same neighborhoods of their victims.

Writer and journalist Eduardo Anguita, shared several of his impressions of the prisons and the health crisis.

/// Prison overcrowding in Argentina is a situation that has been going on for decades. (With the appearance of the COVID) the prisoners lost visits, intimate visits and created their own codes as in the province of Buenos Aires, of protection against the virus.

I make a personal assessment. In Argentina, resources are very scarce to deal with this crisis. There is no doubt that the situation of the prisoners is bad. Nor can the violation of their rights be accepted. But I have no doubt that the situation of other sectors (medical, geriatric and poverty) is critical, and that Argentina's scarce resources in this context must be applied in a judicious manner. ///

Team: Fernando Farías

Interview and production: Silvana Avellaneda

Web: Julián Cortez