Argentina is a federal state, where each province has its own penitentiary system. The federal system holds people incarcerated for federal crimes and ordinary offences committed within the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The majority of the prison population is held in federal prisons and in the Province of Buenos Aires. Each prison system is responsible for prisoners’ healthcare and the health staff. In a study conducted in 2013 and 2019 by the National University of Tres de Febrero, prisoners were asked to share their perception of prison healthcare. The results indicate a deterioration between the two surveys. In 2019, in the Buenos Aires prison system, 55% of inmates mentioned that they had not received medical attention when they got sick. The proportion is 31% in the federal system. The Argentinian section of the International Prison Observatory (OIP) reports the constant overcrowding of prisons, the poor hygiene and the lack of food.

At the early stages of the pandemic, the Latin American Society of Criminology (SOCLA) assessed the vulnerable prison population in two systems. In the Province of Buenos Aires, about 5% of the prisoners was identified as being “at risk”, while at the Federal level it concerned 10% to 15% of the total population.
In March 2020, prisoners denounced the lack of measures they considered elementary, such as the quarantine of prisoners who returned to detention after temporary leaves. They also called for a thorough implementation of preventive measures by staff at each change of shift.
The Argentinian OIP also criticised the poor access to health services. The NGO reported that medical treatments were limited to the distribution of painkillers and that prisoners were transferred to hospitals only in extremely severe cases.
Sanitary protocols were designed at the local level. In April 2020, for instance, the Ministry of Security and Justice and the Ministry of Health drew up a prevention protocol for the prisons in the Province of Río Negro. The protocol provided for the distribution of medicines, hygiene products and disinfectants in each facility. All incoming prisoners would undergo a medical exam so that COVID-19 symptoms (cough, breathing difficulties, temperature) could be detected. In the Province of Buenos Aires, health kits were distributed to 18,000 prison officers. The kit was composed of 250 ml of hydro-alcoholic gel, soap and ten pairs of gloves. The prison administration and the provincial Ministry of Justice announced that 180,000 masks would be distributed to prison staff.

In May 2020, the Argentinian President declared the construction of 12 hospital units (288 beds) dedicated to prisoners in the Province of Buenos Aires and four more units for Federal prisons. He announced that the units would be set up inside the prisons and would include sections for patients who needed to be isolated.

The President acknowledged the problem of prison overcrowding and stated that: “Having people crowded together is inhumane”.
The Argentinian OIP reported that hundreds of prisoners suffering from other diseases (high blood pressure, diabetics, tuberculosis, arthritis or advanced osteoarthritis) were highly impacted by the COVID-related restrictions. The relatives usually providing them with medicine were now prohibited to do so due to travel restrictions or their lack of financial resources. No alternative was provided. The Argentinian NPM (Comité Nacional para la Prevención de la Tortura, CNPT) created a database collecting all COVID-19 judicial and administrative measures applied in places of deprivation of liberty. The measures vary from on province to another and can be implemented differently in the local or the Federal systems. The database includes the following categories: sanitary measures, compensation, reduction of the population, risk groups, children & young people and mental health.

The first COVID-19 case amongst prisoners was confirmed by the authorities on 19 April 2020. The infected person, a life-sentenced prisoner held at Florencio Varela prison, was believed to have contracted the disease during his treatment for chronic renal failure at Presidente Perón hospital. All those who were in contact with him (10 prison staff and 5 prisoners) were isolated.
In April 2020, four medical staff in the Devoto Federal prison and a prison guard at Villa Devoto prison tested positive for COVID-19. They were the first prison staff infected. In July 2020, 28 prisoners and seven guards tested positive in the Campo de Mayo military prison. According to the Argentinian OIP, many prison officers were infected by the coronavirus. As a result, there was less staff available for security and surveillance missions.
By the end of August 2020, the number of infected prisoners in Federal prisons was close to 390. Thirteen had died from COVID-19. Most of the cases were found at the Complejos I de Ezeira, II de Marcos Paz and CABA de Devoto facilities.
As of 24 November 2020, 1,629 prisoners were infected and 60 had died from COVID-19: 17 in the Federal penitentiary system and 43 in the Provincials systems. The highest numbers of COVID-19 infections were located in the Province of Córdoba system (403).[^reporte] Prisoners who died from COVID-19 were aged 67 on average.

The requests for releases or sentence adjustments due the pandemic are still currently being examined by courts on a case-by-case basis. In April 2020, Paula Litvachky, lawyer and Executive Director of the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), said that less than 500 prisoners in the Province of Buenos Aires had been placed under house arrest between mid-March and mid-April. This represented 1% of its prison population.
At least 2,609 prisoners were released from Federal prisons between March and July 2020. About 29% of these were placed under house arrest and 14.7% on parole. The number of releases increased by 61% compared to the same period in 2018, while the number of people under house arrest was multiplicated by eight.
The Federal Prison Inspector (Procuración Penitenciaria de la Nación, PPN) published a guide for prisoners released during the epidemic and their relatives. The guide included information on institutions that can provide help to prisoners and their families, as well as other resources.

Activities and work were greatly impacted by the crisis. Classes and sport activities were suspended. Some teachers, thanks to their own initiative and creativity, used videocalls to maintain the opportunity of interaction and exchange with the students. Apart from this, no new formats of activities were implemented. Many prisoners had their work activity suspended. As reported by the Argentinian section of OIP, the overcrowding was felt in a “very dramatic way” since the prisoners spent most of the day inside their wings.
In April 2020, it was reported that prisoners held in San Nicolás, Bahía Blanca, Urdampilleta, La Plata, Magdalena and Florencio Varela facilities worked at least eight hours a day in textile workshops producing masks and overcoats for police, doctors, nurses, firefighters and court officials. Some masks were made available to prisoners. Prisoners at Bahía Blanca helped setting up a field hospital in the school of Unit 4 to prepare for the eventuality of an outbreak. Prisoners were trained to assist the sick. Fourteen prisoners were assigned to manage the makeshift 46-bed hospital.

Family and loved ones¶

Most of the jurisdictions put in place new rules restricting contacts between prisoners and families. Many have suspended visits and home leaves for two weeks at the end of March 2020 and later extended the suspension. The CNPT stated, in April, that these decisions could be useful for preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the penitentiary facilities, but that they had an impact on family ties as well as on the psychosocial well-being of prisoners.[^report]
As a compensation measure, the Court of Appeal (Tribunal de Casación penal) allowed, in April 2020, the use of mobile phones, tablets and laptops in the Province of Buenos Aires. The measure was to remain in place for as long as the visits were suspended. The use of social media was still forbidden, with the exception of WhatsApp. Prisoners who already unofficially owned a mobile phone could notify prison authorities to sort out how and when they would use it. Since the authorisation of mobile phones in mid-June 2020, more than 22,000 prisoners have registered a device with the prison service.
The effects of this measure were positively acknowledged by the Federal Prison Inspector (Procuración Penitenciaria de la Nación, PPN). In June 2020) that phone calls between prisoners and their families were of crucial importance. It recommended that phone lines be set up to allow incoming calls in Federal prisons. He assessed the compensation measures for outgoing calls (videocalls, distribution of free phone cards) as insufficient said that phone calls between prisoners and their families were of crucial importance. It recommended that phone lines be set up to allow incoming calls in Federal prisons. He assessed the compensation measures for outgoing calls (videocalls, distribution of free phone cards) as insufficient.
As a compensatory measure, relatives were allowed to send packages with food and goods to the prisoners or bring it to the facilities for the prison staff to hand out. In reality, they were not always able to do so (cf. Sanitary conditions and access to healthcare). The Argentinian OIP reported that many prisoners had gone hungry due to the scarcity of food provided by the administration:

“There is a collective imaginary that prisoners are maintained by the State. Formally it would seem to be true. In reality, it is the family members who support them.”

In August 2020, the isolation of prisoners and the lack of contact with the outside world remained problematic. The IACHR and the UN denounced the decision of the Federal justice system to isolate prisoners for an indefinite period of time. The prison administration justified this measure by stating that it was necessary to avoid contagion. The IACHR and the UN criticised the detention conditions in the isolation cells: prisoners were completely cut off from the outside world and had no access to medical care.

Inspection visits¶

In the beginning of June 2020, under the “COVID-19 monitoring plan”, the Argentinian NPM visited the Federal units I and II. The Federal Prison Inspection (PPN) and the Director-General of the Protection of Human Rights visited the Marco Paz and Ezeiza prisons. The aim of these visits was to observe the measures adopted during the pandemic, and to work with the authorities and prisoners.
The PPN’s Mental Health Team and its regional delegations started monitoring prisoners’ access to mental and psychological care in Federal prisons during the pandemic.

Many protests have been taking place in Argentinian prisons since March 2020. Most protesters called for the implementation of sanitary preventive measures or for compensatory measures to the restrictions in place.
The first reported protest movement happened on 23 March 2020 simultaneously in different prisons, including Florencio Varela, Batán, Coronda and Santa Fe prisons. Several prisoners climbed on the roofs, others tried to escape. One prisoner died, and several were injured. The protestors demanded preventive measures and denounced the lack thereof. Five prisoners died following the uprisings. Four of them died at the Santa Fe prison, where a special forces operations corps (Tropa de Operaciones Especiales) intervened. Confirmed or suspected cases amongst prisoners or penitentiary staff have also been the cause of uprisings. In the end of April 2020, a riot broke out at Villa Devoto prison after it was confirmed that one of the guards had tested positive for COVID-19. Prisoners demanded emergency sanitary measures and the implementation of release procedures. Some prisoners climbed on the roofs, set mattresses on fire and took over the control of two floors. One of their banners read: “We refuse to die in jail”. The protest lasted nine hours. Prisoners’ representatives agreed to meet with the authorities to discuss their demands. No casualties were reported. By 23 April 2020, the Buenos Aires prison authorities recorded 1,184 prisoners on hunger strike. They were incarcerated in the following prisons: Unidad 41 de Campana (332 prisoners), La Plata (141), Unidad 48 de San Martín (97), Alcaidia de Olmos (70), Unidad 39 de Ituzaingó (42), Sierra Chica (26), Hornos (22) and Florencia Varela (25). Prisoners demanded to be placed under house arrest, as per the ruling of the Court of Appeal.

After the Buenos Aires riots, a “Dialogue Table” was set up: authorities and prisoners’ representatives discussed, and prisoners were able to express their great fear of the contagion.

In July 2020, prisoners in the San Salvador de Jujuy prison started a riot after hearing about positive cases and a sick prisoner in another facility. Authorities confirmed that there were no positive cases in this prison. Prisoners demanded better conditions of detention. The police was called in after three hours of rioting. Two prisoners died and the number of wounded was not reported. Also in July, prisoners at the 1st Police Station of Marcos Paz were worried about a positive case. They voiced this concern and 28 of them were beaten by the police. The Argentinian OIP denounced the violence and called for a court-appointed doctor to examine the wounds inflicted and the prisoners’ health conditions. To respond some of the prisoners’ demands, and address the overcrowding, the Argentinian government launched infrastructure work in August 2020 in three Buenos Aires prisons. The objective was to have 1,350 new places by the end of the year and additional common spaces.
According to the Argentinian OIP, in the beginning of the pandemic, prisoners would follow the authorities’ decisions and readily agreed to stop seeing their families. However, the NGO stated that this measure should have been accompanied by extra precautions from the penitentiary staff. When prisoners found out that the infection started to spread mainly amongst the staff, they reacted strongly. Movements of panic started despite the fact that many had not been in direct contact with the infected officers. The NPM has registered a total 80 movements of protests between March and November 2020. It highlighted that most of the incidents happened in facilities where there were no channels for dialogue that could allow a “peaceful management of conflicts”.

The OIP-SA has been very active since the beginning of the pandemic. On 13 March 2020, the organisation sent a letter to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights sharing its concerns about the health crisis and the “explosive situation of the prison systems”. The OIP-SA drew attention to the sanitary problems and the lack of food in the country’s prisons, many of them being already faced with outbreaks of dengue fever, measles and tuberculosis. The association called for a meeting with the Federal penitentiary administration in order to set up a strategy and avoid a situation similar to the one experienced in Italian prisons. On 25 March 2020, the OIP-SA expressed its concerns regarding the particularly tense situation in the Buenos Aires prisons. In a letter addressed to the Assistant Secretary of Human Rights of the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires Province, the OIP-SA criticised the suspension of temporary leave and of all visits from loved ones, through which incarcerated individuals received food and medicines. The NGO also highlighted the lack of healthcare adapted for diabetic, injured prisoners and those suffering from digestive problems. It expressed its belief that prisons are in a state of health emergency and asked for fast and proper intervention. In April 2020, the civil society organisation Espacio de Derecho Popular, along with relatives of prisoners and lawyers jointly deposited a Habeas Corpus Correctivo Colectivo. The latter called for measures to guarantee the right to health and physical integrity of persons deprived of their liberty. It concerned prisoners from facilities in the Córdoba Province: the prisons of Bouwer, Monte Cristo and Unidad de Contención del Aprehendido (UCA). This habeas corpus called for emergency measures regarding prevention protocols, provision of sanitary equipment and healthcare, as well as the preservation of prisoners’ ties with the outside world.