Mexico evaluates purchase of Papantla high-security prison

President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the Mexican government is evaluating the acquisition of the Papantla High-Security Detention Center in Veracruz. The facility is currently approximately 90 percent complete but has faced years of delays and an investment exceeding 10 billion pesos without yet housing inmates.

The project was originally developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, which the current administration seeks to move away from due to high costs. Sheinbaum has instructed the Secretary of Anticorruption and Good Government, Raquel Buenrostro, and the Secretary of Finance, Édgar Amador Zamora, to conduct an appraisal and clarify historical investments dating back to the Enrique Peña Nieto administration.

The goal is to determine the cost of purchasing the infrastructure to finish and operate it under a different management scheme, avoiding the high costs associated with previous private contracts.