The transfer of detainees from the Devoto prison in Buenos Aires City to a new penitentiary complex in Marcos Paz began over the weekend, according to Infobae. The move follows the provisional handover of the facility to the national government earlier in the week. Once complete, the operation will empty the city jail and relocate everyone held there.
Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri called the development "historic" in a public message posted to his X account. At the signing of the handover record on Thursday, October 9, he pointed to cooperation with President Javier Milei, Presidential General Secretary Karina Milei, National Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva, and officials from both administrations.
Why it matters
The emptying of Devoto is the product of an agreement between the city and the national government. The new prison, located in Buenos Aires Province, is designed to hold 2,240 detainees and will be run by the National Security Ministry once preparations for operations are finished.
For city officials, the transfer answers a long-standing demand from residents near the Devoto site for the prison's closure. For the national government, it marks the activation of a complex whose construction had stalled for years.
Handover cleared the way
Karina Milei and Macri signed the record granting provisional receipt of the Complejo Penitenciario Federal VIII in Marcos Paz. That signature opened the organizational phase for relocating the prison population and shutting the facility inside the capital, Infobae reports.
Under the arrangement, the national ministry must ready the buildings, line up the resources required, and coordinate the movement of inmates. Authorities instructed the forces involved to draw up a joint operational plan before any transfers got underway.
According to official information, planners weighed the criminal profile of each detainee, the ground routes to be used, and security at the properties involved. The planning also covered steps to head off incidents during the journey between Devoto and the Marcos Paz district.
A unified command runs the operation
The National Security Ministry set up a Comando Unificado Federal to plan, coordinate, and carry out the procedure. Direction falls to the national director of the Servicio Penitenciario Federal, who is tasked with linking prison staff and the federal security forces.
The structure operates within a command created in May 2024 through Resolution No. 403. Resolution 1018/2026 formalized the specific arrangement for moving inmates from Buenos Aires City to the new provincial facility.
The framework allows other national agencies to be brought in according to their areas of responsibility. It also invites the city and Buenos Aires Province governments to name representatives with operational decision-making authority to assist with guarding the route and both prisons.
The signing of the record was attended by Minister Monteoliva; Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli; Justice Minister Juan Bautista Mahiques; Buenos Aires City Security Minister Horacio Giménez; and city legislator Pilar Ramírez. Also present were city Cabinet Chief Gabriel Sánchez Zinny and local Justice Minister Gabino Tapia.
An eight-year build, five of them stalled
The Marcos Paz complex sits on an 80-hectare site, and construction got underway eight years ago. Work stopped for five years and was restarted in December 2024 by the city administration to fulfill an agreement the two jurisdictions signed in 2018.
The new unit will have four modules, an administrative building, a health area, spaces set aside for visits, videoconference rooms for inmates and professionals, a gym, and an education section for workshops and job training.
The site will add housing modules spread across five independent sectors, soccer fields, and areas for vegetable gardens. It will also include a space for distributing food rations and offices for programs and services tied to the internal security command.
During an inspection of the works, Macri said the prison would allow the transfer of detainees held at Villa Devoto and address the neighborhood's call to close that jail. "The Marcos Paz prison is almost ready and we are going to hand it over to the Nation, just as we had agreed," the mayor said.
What to watch next is the pace of the transfers themselves: the national ministry still has to finish fitting out the complex and coordinate each movement of inmates before Devoto can be declared empty.
