Carlos Negro admitted that scams are being committed from prison, but prisoners still have cellphones

The Minister of the Interior, Carlos Negro, made it clear in statements with Public Television: Uruguayan prisons are one of the operational centers from which telephone and digital scams are planned and executed. He recognized it without hesitation. But when the time came to act, he backed down. “The use of telephones is not allowed inside prisons,” he repeated like a mantra. And yet, the prisoners are still holding cellphones in their hands. Signal jammers don't work. And the scams keep coming out behind bars as if

nothing had happened.

Look at the numbers, without anesthesia. Complaints of scams and cybercrime exploded: from 1,333 in 2013 to more than 31,144 in 2024. An increase of more than 2,000%. In 2025, they closed with around 26,182 cases (scams plus computer fraud), a slight drop of 16.7% compared to the previous year, but with a historic growth of more than 1,250% in a decade. The rate per 100,000 inhabitants jumped from 55.8 to 729.5. They are already the third most reported crime in the country, behind only theft and robbery. And a significant part of that dirty business is cooked inside prisons

Uruguay has an historic record of prisoners: more than 16,000 prisoners, a rate of 477 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in Latin America and among the 15 worst in the world. Overcrowding exceeds 120% in most centers. Recidivism does not fall below 60-68%. Seven out of ten released return to crime in less than three years. And the cost to the taxpayer is brutal: repeat offenders alone cost the State about 132 million dollars a year. And what does the government do? Recognize the problem... and let the prisoners keep using cell phones.

Each inmate has between three and four telephones, according to repeated reports. With these devices, they organize million-dollar scams, extort money, sell stolen data and operate like real “crime SMEs” from the inside. The victims are ordinary Uruguayans: retirees, workers, families who lose their savings with a false message or a call “from the bank”. The minister says that they must be combated “more with education and prevention than with repression”. Translation: nice words while the criminals are still using Wi-Fi and a signal inside the prison

This is not a “technical failure”. It's soft-handed politics disguised as modernity. Money is spent on new prisons that never finish solving the underlying problem, there is talk of the “human rights” of prisoners, but the rights of the victims are forgotten. Signal inhibitors exist, they are used in other countries with concrete results. Taking away their cell phones isn't “inhumane”: it's elementary. It is to prevent the prison from being a command center for organized crime.

And it's not just this government. It is the same system that all governments - white, red or broad fronts - have maintained: prisons that do not rehabilitate, that do not isolate the criminal from society, that end up being universities of crime. They promise “safety” in the campaign and then, when the numbers scream, they respond with euphemisms and excuses. Meanwhile, honest citizens pay taxes to keep those who defraud them from their cell

Carlos Negro admitted the focus of the problem. Now you have an obligation to nip it in the bud. Take out the cell phones. Make the inhibitors work. Strengthen surveillance. Apply real hard work. Because every scam that comes out of jail isn't a “virtual crime”: it's a robbery with all the letters. And every day that goes by without action is another day when the State protects the criminal instead of protecting the one who works

The worst government in history is not the one that inherits full jails. He is the one who, recognizing that million-dollar scams are being committed from the inside, decides to look the other way and leave his cell phones in the hands of the prisoners. Uruguayans already know: when the State chooses the convenience of the criminal over the safety of the people, the only thing that grows is the crime business. Welcome to the circus of scams from prison. And counting.

Carlos Negro admitted that scams are being committed from prison, but prisoners still have cellphones

Carlos Negro admitted that scams are being committed from prison, but prisoners still have cellphones

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