Peru's Senate committee summons the head of the national prison service over the prison crisis

27 October 2026

The Senate's Committee on State Management Affairs and Comptrollership has questioned the head of Peru's prison service. Abraham Alejandro Lescano Salazar, president of the Consejo Nacional Penitenciario, appeared before it. The Consejo Nacional Penitenciario is the governing body of the Instituto Nacional Penitenciario, INPE, which runs Peru's prisons under the Ministry of Justice. Senators raised stalled prison building, networks of illegal trade inside jails, and organised crime and extortion run from within. Senator Jorge Velasquez said a prison in Ucayali has been under construction for eleven years. Senator Katherine Ampuero questioned the 280 million soles projected for prison food in 2027. The committee is presided over by Senator Percy Osorio Palpan, and the session is part of the oversight work the Senate took up when Peru returned to a two-chamber Congress.