Chile will speed up construction of a new maximum security prison in the region that encompasses the capital city of Santiago to help fight organized crime, President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday.

The new facility will cost an estimated $95.4 million (90 billion Chilean pesos) and house around 500 maximum security inmates as part of a plan to increase the current 600 maximum security spots. Another 200 spots will be added to existing prisons in northern Chile.

“In Chile we’re not going to allow what’s happened in other country’s where organized crime has taken over jails with no state control,” Boric said in a press conference after a meeting with the security cabinet. “That’s not going to happen in Chile.

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In Chile, the government does not receive direct payments for each prisoner. Instead, the funding for prisons comes from the national budget allocated to the National Prisons Service (Gendarmería de Chile). This budget is designed to cover all operational costs, including the maintenance and management of prison facilities, staff salaries, and inmate welfare. The funding is part of the broader public expenditure managed by the government.