Pablo Mackenna reveals harsh conditions and gang control at Santiago 1

Journalist and former TV host Pablo Mackenna recounted his three‑week stint in Santiago 1 prison after being placed in preventive detention for a 2023 drunk‑driving crash. He described the facility as “bravo, not a farm,” noting that he was assigned a two‑person cell that held five inmates, forcing him to sleep on the floor beside the toilet.

Mackenna said he observed a range of irregularities: confiscated mobile phones were allegedly returned to inmates, external objects were thrown into the yard (“pelotazos”), and a workshop intended for skill training was reportedly run by the criminal group known as the Tren de Aragua. He criticized the lack of genuine rehabilitation, calling prison conditions “pésimas” and asserting that “rehabilitation does not exist.”