Chile moves 295 high-risk inmates to new mega-prison as Kast pushes security agenda

The Chilean government has transferred nearly 300 high-risk inmates to a newly opened mega-prison, in a move aimed at easing overcrowding and curbing gang leaders' ability to direct criminal operations from behind bars. President José Antonio Kast traveled to La Laguna Prison, located about 250 kilometers south of Santiago, to oversee the operation on Thursday.

Authorities said 295 inmates were moved from prisons across the country, including 37 members of criminal organizations. Another 100 prisoners are expected to be transferred in the coming week as the facility gradually fills. La Laguna, billed as Chile's most modern and secure prison, has a capacity of 2,320 inmates across more than a dozen units, including maximum-security wings. It is equipped with 1,500 surveillance cameras, body scanners, and technology designed to block cellphone signals.

Government-released footage showed inmates seated in rows with bowed heads and shackled feet, a visual style reminiscent of El Salvador's crackdown under President Nayib Bukele. Kast, who visited El Salvador during his campaign to study Bukele's security policies, has cited the Central American leader as a model for his own promises to fight organized crime.

"It's a way of sending criminals a clear message that things have changed: We are going to come after you, we are going to find you, you will be prosecuted and we are going to lock you up," Kast said at a press conference about the transfer.

The prison opened last year under Kast's predecessor, left-wing President Gabriel Boric, and had already begun receiving inmates before Kast took office. The move comes as Kast seeks to regain momentum on his flagship security pledge after a halting start. He dismissed his first security minister just over two months into his administration and has struggled to implement his core promise of rapidly deporting immigrants. So far, his government has deported about 878 of the estimated 300,000 immigrants in Chile without legal status. Another 7,501 immigrants left voluntarily during the first seven months of 2026.

With voters expressing frustration that Kast's security policies have so far differed little from those under Boric, Kast last week unveiled a broader security package. The proposals, many already before Congress, include a permanent police presence in high-crime neighborhoods, tougher penalties for gang membership, and a new state agency to seize and destroy assets linked to organized crime. The legislation would also loosen rules governing police use of force and change the constitution to make it easier to declare states of emergency in response to grave security threats.

Chile remains among the safest countries in Latin America, but a recent rise in kidnappings, extortion, and drug trafficking—along with the expansion of transnational gangs such as Venezuela's Tren de Aragua—has fueled public anxiety that helped propel Kast to electoral victory last December.