Prison conditions and the treatment of incarcerated individuals in Chile have improved a great deal when compared to the end-of-the-dictatorship period at the beginning of the 1990s. Along with rapid societal changes over the last decade, the Chilean prison system has been transformed in many ways. Today, human rights are more visible within the prison system through a variety of indicators, both quantitative and qualitative. On the other hand, it still has pending tasks and faces new challenges, such as: historical deficit on infrastructure and material conditions, violence inside prison walls, insufficient program access, the COVID-19 crisis, changes in its population, or the threat of organized crime. Although Chile is currently under a democratic regime, the authoritarian legacy still persists and can be traced to how the prison system is operated and structured. Today, the prison service depends on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and houses about 45,000 incarcerated individuals, a rate of approximately 236 per 100,000 inhabitants (ICPS, 2022). Some have argued that the Chilean prison system is in better shape than neighboring countries, but others criticize its similarities to the rest of the region, which are far from adequate standards when compared to developed countries. This paper utilizes quantitative and qualitative data to describe some of the efforts that have been made to improve the human rights of the incarcerated, critically analyze some pending challenges, and identify current roles and opportunities for social work professionals inside Chilean prisons.

与20世纪90年代初独裁统治结束时期相比，智利的监狱条件和被监禁者的待遇有了很大改善。随着过去十年社会的快速变化，智利监狱系统在许多方面发生了变化。如今，通过各种定量和定性指标，人权在监狱系统内更加明显。另一方面，它仍然有悬而未决的任务，并面临新的挑战，例如：基础设施和物质条件的历史赤字、监狱围墙内的暴力、项目访问不足、COVID-19危机、人口变化或威胁有组织犯罪。尽管智利目前处于民主政权之下，但威权主义遗产仍然存在，并且可以追溯到监狱系统的运作和结构。如今，监狱服务依赖于司法和人权部，关押着约 45,000 名被监禁者，比例约为每 100,000 名居民 236 人（ICPS，2022 年）。一些人认为，智利的监狱系统比邻国的状况要好，但另一些人则批评其与该地区其他地区的相似之处，与发达国家相比，这些地区的标准远远不够。本文利用定量和定性数据描述了为改善被监禁者的人权所做的一些努力，批判性地分析了一些悬而未决的挑战，并确定了智利监狱内社会工作专业人员目前的角色和机会。