Less than a year after its inauguration as a maximum security model jail, The Renewal Detention Center 1, in Escuintla, It is again the focus of controversy. In the prison, built on the foundations of the old prison known as “El Infiernito”, the vices of the past have not been eradicated. In 2025, two riots have been recorded, phones used to extort have been seized and this Tuesday it was revealed that an inmate had Q200 thousand in cash within the prison.
On June 15, alerts lit when a group of inmates mutiny took their own visits hostage. The demand was clear: they wanted to recover the privileges they had lost since the closing of El Infiernito. According to official reports, these demands included freedom to extort, intimidate and exercise territorial control inside and outside the prison, activities that the authorities intended to eliminate with the restructuring of the prison system.
Following the riot, the Public Ministry (MP) and the National Civil Police (PNC) executed a requisition in which they located two cell phones that had been used for at least six months to coordinate extortion from the inside of renewal 1. the investigations also led to the capture of a penitentiary guard and of a inmate, indicated to integrate a criminal network that operated from jail. These revelations collapsed the official discourse that the passage of illicit devices had been sealed.
The authorities have admitted that part of the prison personnel is vulnerable to bribes and announced a reengineering in the security protocols to purify the institution.
On August 1, a group of inmates mutinied in that prison, hours after the transfer of 10 leaders of the 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs. This Tuesday, August 5, in the middle of a new requirement, the authorities seized Q192 thousand in cash to Jorge Yahir de León Hernández, aka “The Diabolic”, leader of the Mara Salvatrucha. The inmate, housed in the isolation sector, had the money inside a backpack.
In 2016, aka “El Diabolic” was sentenced to 168 years in prison for having ordered the murder of four people, whose beheaded bodies were abandoned in front of the Congress of the Republic, the Tikal Futura shopping center, the Lavarda neighborhood, zone 18, and La Paz neighborhood, zone 4 of Villa Nueva.
Constructions are missing
Juvell de León, who was director of the Penitentiary System between 2016 and April 2018, points out that several prison projects have suffered delays, including the construction of maximum security prisons, due to the lack of will of the powers of the State: Judicial, Executive and Legislative Body.
As explained, a similar case occurred with Fraijanes 1 and 2 prisons, which suffered damage during a riot, which resulted in criminal proceedings against system authorities and against the construction company, because the investigations concluded that the properties were not properly built.
De León considers that remodeling is not enough, but that a new prison infrastructure is required. Otherwise – it advertises – other security protocols will continue to fail. He adds that controls during family and lawyers should be reinforced, and avoid the entry of people without direct relationship with inmates. It also suggests establishing precise records of schedules and accesses.
“Before moving the inmates, the protocols had to be refined and now they must deduce responsibilities, both to the guards and the director of the center,” he says.
“It is a time bomb to have them together. Planning is required so that they do not escape,” he warns.
For its part, Eddy Morales, former director of the Penitentiary System, agrees that the main renewal problem 1 is that a remodeling was chosen instead of a new construction.
“In Guatemala there are no maximum security prisons under international standards,” he says.
Morales also criticizes that a rigorous selection of the personnel assigned to that center has not been made. He ensures that old personnel were chosen or inappropriate selection processes were applied, which contributes to the loss of internal control.
“Corruption is so rooted that it will be very difficult to eradicate it if a true purification plan is not implemented,” he said.
The last prisons built in the country were Fraijanes 1 and 2, between the late nineties and early 2000. Both were remodeled in 2009. Since then, no new centers have been built under high -level safety standards.
Review
The infiernito, located 70 kilometers from the city, was closed between questions for lack of control and corruption. After intense requisitions and a partial closure in June 2024, it was renewed and reopened in November with the renewal name 1. Today it operates with reinforced security measures, although it continues to face challenges for internal illegal activities detected even after its remodeling. The Interior authorities promise that, before this government administration ends, renewal 2 and 3 will be built.
During a requisition in 2024, in the still prison of El Infiernito, Penitentiary authorities found wild animals such as crocodiles and foxes; Appliances, video game consoles, illegal Internet via fiber optic, exclusive areas such as luxury departments, weapons, money and liquors. That same month began the transfer of about 130 inmates from the 18th neighborhood. In his stage as the infiernito, he housed about 225 inmates from the 18th neighborhood, high danger.
According to the authorities, this prison has X -ray scanners in accesses for the detection of objects and people, and with closed video surveillance circuit. Separate areas for virtual audiences, medical clinic and dining areas were also enabled.
Publication
In the social network X, the Minister of the Interior, Francisco Jiménez, CHe sensed the seizure of Q192 thousand as “an accurate blow to the financial capacities of gangs.” The official said that with the cash the gang members intended to bribe, buy wills, manipulate custodians and submit to others deprived of liberty.
“This seizure was no accident; it was the result of a structured plan, designed and executed for weeks. We were clear that these criminals were not going to easily renounce their power,” he said.
He added: We knew that money would be its main tool to recover control, to weaken the system from the inside, to maintain its domain at corruption. And we act before they achieved it. ”
In the publication, the official does not rule out reactions in the streets, but ensures that civil intelligence anticipates them.
“About 70% of the crimes that are being recorded are within the structures themselves, product of their internal decomposition and the struggles for power,” he emphasized.
Jorge Yahir de León Hernández, aka “El Diabolic”
It belongs to the click crowned crazy salvatrucha. In 2016, he was sentenced to 168 years in prison for having ordered the murder of four people, whose beheaded bodies were abandoned in front of the Congress of the Republic, the Tikal Futura Shopping Center, the Lavarda neighborhood, zone 18 and La Paz neighborhood, zone 4 of Villa Nueva.
He is considered the maximum leader of the Mara Salvatrucha in Guatemala. He directs the Council of the Nine and has control of the 43 clicks that make up this criminal structure. He is attributed to having ordered executions such as the heads in 2010, attacks against the prison system in 2014 and the attack at the General San Juan de Dios Hospital in 2013, among others.