09/02/2018
A delegation from the country visits Spanish and Italian penal centres to shape its own healthcare model for prisoners
Prisoner custody unit
EUROsociAL+, a European Commission-funded programme managed by FIIAPP, has accompanied a Chilean delegation to our country following the interest shown by Chilean institutions in the prison healthcare models developed in Spain and Italy.
The Spanish management model was presented to the delegation in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior’s Secretariat General for Penal Institutions. The delegation then visited some penal centres in the Madrid region as well as the custody units for prisoners in several hospitals, where the delegates learned about the facilities and their operation.
Some new practices were highlighted that are of great interest for Chile, such as telemedicine, which reduces the need for patients to travel to normal hospitals for consultations, increasing the efficiency of the care and reducing security risks.
The second part of the trip took place in Italy, where some interesting experiences were identified that could feed into Chilean reforms that reflect the current Italian management model. In Italy, responsibility for prison health management has been transferred from the prison administration to the national health system and its local services (ASL).
During the visit, an exchange meeting on the Italian, Spanish and Chilean models was also held between the relevant institutions. This was an opportunity for dialogue and fact-finding to highlight current advances and challenges.
EUROsociAL+ is helping the Chilean government to develop a new management model for prisoner healthcare that will improve the healthcare conditions in penal institutions and the general health of prisoners.
The experience will allow the Chilean institutions to work on this new management model in the country’s prisons. A workshop is planned in Santiago for the end of February to lay the foundations for a proposal to be presented to the new administration.
