“There were beatings with feet, fists, and batons inflicted by prison guards,” denounced the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) in a statement. The Guarantee Court confirmed the events, and the inmates were transferred. Two gay men and two trans women were tortured by prison officials at the Antofagasta prison in northern Chile. This is not the first time they have suffered such violence. In fact, one of them had already been transferred several times to different prisons due to other attacks. The abuses in module 88 of the Antofagasta prison, which occurred on December 21st but came to light this month, “involved beatings with feet, fists, and batons by prison guards, as well as water cannons and pepper spray. In addition, the inmates were forced to undress and subjected to continuous insults based on their gender identity and sexual orientation, which particularly affected the dignity of trans women,” stated the Movement for Homosexual Liberation (Movilh). After the Guarantee Court confirmed the complaint, Judge Marco Antonio Rojas ordered the transfer of the inmates to a prison in Arica, very close to the border with Peru.

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Measures from the Justice System

In response to these acts of violence, Movilh met with the Undersecretary of Justice, Nicolás Mena. “We expressed our extreme concern about these events to Undersecretary Mena. These are abuses that have become a deplorable and despicable constant, making the Gendarmerie a dangerous place for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people,” stated Rolando Jiménez, director of Movilh. The National Institute for Human Rights (INDH) informed the organization that it visited gay and trans inmates in the Antofagasta and La Serena prisons this week. The director of the INDH, Branislav Marelic, specified that his organization has been monitoring the abuse complaints in Antofagasta for the past month and has been in regular contact with the inmates. LGBTI population in Chilean prisons  According to a report According to ILGA and the Diversity Front, “Chilean Gendarmerie has adopted the practice of segregating the gay, bisexual, and transgender population from the rest of the prison population. Any person who identifies as homosexual (including transgender people) is placed in the cells of the special population, which is usually made up of LGBT people, people living with HIV, and people with physical or mental disabilities.”

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In Chile there is still no gender identity law and transgender people who have not changed their name and sex cannot opt ​​for the possibility of being in prisons according to their gender identity.

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