Peru’s government has transferred 32 million soles (almost $12 million) to the National Penitentiary Institute, INPE, for maintenance in five of the country’s prisons, government news agency Andina said.
The funds will be used to buy new vehicles, ammunition, a video surveillance system, among others, Andina said.
INPE officials have said that body scanners are needed as some prohibited objects, such as cameras and cell phones, can easily pass through traditional metal detectors.
“We do manual revisions on people, but we are lacking specialized equipment… to be more efficient,” said the INPE’s Jose Luis Perez.
“To make up for this deficiency, we have manual metal detectors, but the ideal is to have these body scanners in six prisons,” he said. “This is urgent and the 32 million soles will be used for this.”
Perez said that in the Ancon I prison, the ex-Piedras Gordas prison on the north outskirts of Lima, there are 130 cameras, but 60 are not functioning.
Peru’s prisons are notorious for their lack of security and overcrowding. A recent report by Peru’s ombudsman, the Defensoria del Pueblo, found that there were about 48,000 inmates in the prison system, which has the infrastructure for only 28,000 people.
