Devoto prison has been transferred to the national government's hands, and the transfer of inmates to the Marcos Paz prison is moving forward.

National Government and City of Buenos Aires officials pose after the signing of the transfer of the Devoto Penitentiary Complex at the Ministry of Security. The Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei, and the City's Chief of Government, Jorge Macri, signed the provisional reception act for Federal Penitentiary Complex VIII of Marcos Paz. The document enables a new stage to transfer the inmates held in the Devoto prison and vacate the facility located in the City of Buenos Aires. The new penitentiary unit, built on Buenos Aires Province territory, will come under national jurisdiction once completed. The Ministry of National Security will be in charge of preparing the facilities and organizing the operation to move the prison population, along with the equipment needed for the functioning of the new destination. The move does not yet have defined dates, but the Government ordered the forces involved to draw up a joint operational plan. The planning must take into account the criminological profile of each inmate, land routes, the custody of the properties, and the prevention of incidents throughout the entire transfer. The agreement to leave the Devoto prison without inmates is part of an agreement between the Nation and the City of Buenos Aires. The handover of the Marcos Paz complex will allow the transfer of all persons deprived of liberty held in the Buenos Aires facility and progress toward the closure of that prison. National and City of Buenos Aires authorities exchange documents during the signing of the agreement for the transfer of the Devoto prison. The new prison will have capacity for 2,240 inmates. The infrastructure includes four units, an administrative building, a health area, visiting spaces, videoconference rooms for inmates and professionals, a gym, and an educational sector for work workshops and job training. It will also feature a campus of housing modules distributed across five independent sectors, with soccer fields and garden areas. There will be a specific space for the distribution of food rations and offices for the programs and services linked to the internal security command. A command to oversee the transfer to Marcos Paz The Ministry of National Security ordered the creation of a Federal Unified Command to plan, coordinate, and execute the transfer. Overall leadership will be in the hands of the national director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, who must coordinate actions between penitentiary personnel and the Federal Security Forces. The structure will operate within the Federal Unified Command created in May 2024 through Resolution No. 403. The new measure was formalized through Resolution 1018/2026 and provides for a specific deployment for the movement between Devoto and the Buenos Aires Province district of Marcos Paz. The Villa Devoto prison The working group will be made up of representatives of the Secretariat of National Security, the Undersecretariat of Territorial Deployment, the Undersecretariat of Penitentiary Affairs, and the Federal Penitentiary Service. Also participating will be the National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence, the Argentine Federal Police, the Argentine National Gendarmerie, the Argentine Naval Prefecture, and the Airport Security Police. The scheme allows for the convening of other national agencies according to their competencies and invites the governments of the City of Buenos Aires and the Province of Buenos Aires to designate representatives with operational decision-making capacity. The involvement of both jurisdictions seeks to ensure cooperation in the custody of the route and of the facilities involved. The plan must protect penitentiary personnel, participating authorities, inmates, and the civilian population in the areas affected by the operation. It must also establish response mechanisms for contingencies, with perimeter surveillance at both prisons and control of the road corridors used for the transfer. National Government and City of Buenos Aires authorities sign the agreement for the transfer of the Federal Penitentiary Complex of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The signing of the act also brought together the Minister of National Security, Alejandra Monteoliva; the Chief of Staff, Diego Santilli; the Minister of Justice, Juan Bautista Mahiques; the City's Security Minister, Horacio Giménez; and the City legislator, Pilar Ramírez. Also participating were the City Chief of Staff, Gabriel Sánchez Zinny, and the local Minister of Justice, Gabino Tapia. Construction of the Marcos Paz complex began eight years ago and remained halted for five. The works were reactivated in December 2024 by the city administration, which moved forward with their completion to fulfill the agreement signed between the jurisdictions in 2018. Jorge Macri supervised the 80-hectare site of Federal Penitentiary Center VII when the work was in its final stage. The Chief of Government said at the time that the prison would allow the transfer of the inmates from Villa Devoto and address the neighborhood demand for the closure of that facility. "The Marcos Paz prison is almost ready and we are going to hand it over to the Nation, just as we had agreed," Macri stated. The official added that the work would make it possible to move forward with the vacating of Devoto. The agreement between Monteoliva and Giménez also included the possibility of adding housing modules on the grounds of Federal Penitentiary Complex IV and Unit 19, both in Ezeiza. These structures will allow the addition of permanent places for up to 400 inmates. The commissioning of Marcos Paz and the planned expansion in Ezeiza aim to increase the capacity of the Federal Penitentiary Service and to relieve pressure on the city's police stations and detention facilities. The complex was designed under national and international standards of security, penitentiary treatment, and habitability, while the Government prepares the transfer and the definitive vacating of Devoto.