Participants included Patricio Álvarez, Infrastructure and Public Bidding Sector Lead at InvestChile; Juan Eduardo Chackiel, Head of the Studies and Financial Analysis Division of the DGC; Raul Torres, Head of Prison Projects for the Project Development and Bidding Division; Miguel Angel Cornejo and Rodolfo Poblete from the Budget, Planning and Infrastructure Division of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.
Cristián Sagal, Investment Commissioner of InvestChile in France, also joined the visit to Paris.
At these meetings, the delegation presented information on the bids planned for the 2026–2027 period, which contemplate an investment of approximately US$700 million for the construction of seven new prison centers.
These projects will incorporate more than 12,000 new places, with the option to expand depending on the availability of land, and include the Calama, Santiago 1, Alto Hospicio, La Serena, Rancagua, Puerto Montt and Valdivia facilities, in addition to the recently tendered Talca and Copiapó facilities.
Chile currently has nine prison concessions, which contribute more than 21,000 places to the prison system.
As part of the agenda in England, the delegation made a technical visit to HMP Thameside Prison, a facility operated under a 100% private operating model.
The facility, managed by the company SERCO, showed the delegation its management practices, operating standards and the concession model applied in England.
Notable among these is the elimination of the requirement for an Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) for extensions of existing prisons, a measure that, according to estimates from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, would reduce the development and construction time of these projects by more than 700 days.
InvestChile continues to actively promote these opportunities, engaging public-private partnerships and accompanying companies interested in participating in the development of strategic projects for the country.