Costa Rica’s Ombudsman’s Office has condemned a video released by the Ministry of Justice and Peace that shows Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar shouting at inmates in a Puntarenas prison and ordering their transfer to the country’s new maximum-security facility. The minister responded that the office’s opinion is not binding on him.
The video, titled “Los Jachudos van directo al CACCO,” roughly “The Tough Guys Go Straight to CACCO,” was posted on the ministry’s official social media accounts on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 29. It was recorded during an inspection of the 26 de Julio prison in El Roble, Puntarenas, where authorities seized bladed weapons.
“Jachudo” is Costa Rican slang the ministry uses for inmates who behave as if they own their cellblocks. In the recording, Aguilar tells several inmates that because of that behavior they will be moved that same day to high-containment custody and later to the Center for High Containment of Organized Crime, known as CACCO.
At the end of the video, the inmates are shown lying on the floor. The minister warns that the measure should serve as a lesson to the rest of the prison population.
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The Ombudsman’s Office, headed by Angie Cruickshank, said in a statement on Wednesday that the recording shows shouting, public humiliation, inmates forced to the floor and degrading language. Taken together, the office said, those actions amount to a direct violation of human dignity.
The office said the transfers bypassed technical and regulatory procedures that the ministry itself established. Under those rules, decisions to place inmates in maximum-security regimes belong to the technical bodies of the National Directorate of Social Adaptation, not to a political authority, according to the statement.
The ombudsman asked Aguilar to stop what the office described as the public exposure and harassment of prisoners. It also asked him to suspend the transfers until proper procedures confirm the inmates meet the profile for high-containment custody, and said the conduct runs contrary to international human rights commitments Costa Rica has assumed.
Cruickshank said separately that defending the rights of all residents does not make her a defender of criminals. She noted that she has lost relatives to the violence affecting the country, and she criticized what she called the arbitrary use of public power and the treatment of people as objects for media purposes.
The ministry’s press office replied with a brief statement. In it, Aguilar thanked the ombudsman for following his work but said her criteria are not binding on him. Speaking to reporters in Puntarenas on Wednesday after a Cabinet session held in the province, Aguilar said shouting is simply his way of being. He said confronting inmates makes him feel he is delivering for the public, and that he intends to continue the practice.
The minister also referred to an inmate shown in the video whom he described as a hired gunman. He asked whether the ombudsman had spoken out on behalf of the family of the young man he said was killed. The inmate was not identified, and his legal status was not disclosed. Aguilar added that inmates remain human beings and continue to receive professional and medical care as well as food.
The Public Defender’s Office, which is part of the Judicial Branch, has since filed an amparo, a constitutional protection petition, against the ministry before the Constitutional Chamber. The case, number 26-036382-0007-CO, seeks to protect any rights of the inmates that may have been compromised.
The Public Defender’s Office acknowledged that security and discipline are essential to running prisons. It said both must be carried out with respect for the dignity of the people held in them.
The dispute comes as the government prepares to open CACCO, its new high-security prison for organized crime. It is the latest in a series of clashes between the government and the courts over prison rules, alongside measures such as the order to remove televisions from prison cells.
Neither the ministry nor the court has said whether the inmates shown in the video have already been moved.
