Eighteen people in prison housed at Batán Penitentiary Unit Nº15 completed, between October 2025 and May 2026, the pilot phase of Cooperativa Liberté's Community Mental Health Program, which the cooperative sustains with its own resources and community contributions, in administrative coordination with Mutual AMI. Care was delivered entirely by videoconference, from the room Liberté maintains inside Batán. With this closing, a trial stage comes to an end and the transition to the permanent program begins in June.
A pilot that sustained eighteen clinical trajectories
The pilot ran from October 2025 to May 2026 with a specific goal: to test a psychological care setup for people held at Batán prison, sustained entirely by videoconference. Each person who consulted went through an individual clinical process, organized as an initial assessment of up to four sessions followed by a treatment of up to twelve sessions with goals defined jointly.
The pilot was sustained with contributions from Cooperativa Liberté and the community. The administrative coordination with Mutual AMI made it possible to manage the solidarity rates of the professionals involved and to guarantee the economic continuity of the setup. Cooperativa Liberté provided the physical space, the connectivity, the management of appointments and the coordination, in the hands of Ricardo Augman, MSc.
The key role of connectivity
The program exists thanks to connectivity. Without the digital infrastructure that Liberté maintains inside Batán, there would be no way to connect people in prison with professionals who offer their services remotely and at solidarity rates. Technology becomes, in this case, a concrete bridge between those who need care and those who can provide it.
The sessions take place in a room within Liberté's territory, fitted out by the people in prison themselves with the resources available: austere, comfortable, soundproofed, and with adequate clinical conditions to sustain the therapeutic encounter.
"When we started, we had more questions than certainties: whether videoconference would work as a therapeutic space, whether the people consulting would be able to sustain a process from inside prison, whether our structure could guarantee the regularity of the sessions. Today, after eight months, we can say yes. And that is no small conclusion."
What we learned from the pilot
The closing is not a final period: it is the foundation on which the definitive program is built. The observations gathered over these eight months allow the setup to be adjusted along three dimensions.
The first is adherence to the clinical scheme. The combination of up to four assessment sessions followed by a treatment of up to twelve sessions worked as an operational framework and allowed those consulting to sustain a process with a clear beginning and end. The second is institutional articulation: the bond with the unit requires prior agreements and respect for the establishment's timing, and Liberté's presence inside Batán was what made the setup viable. The third is the role of the Health Facilitator, a member of Liberté who receives the request, coordinates the assignment of appointment and professional, and sustains communication between the parties throughout the process.
Towards the permanent program
Starting in June 2026, Cooperativa Liberté's Community Mental Health Program leaves its pilot condition and is established as a permanent provision of the cooperative. This new phase expands the care capacity with the incorporation of a team of mental health field workers distributed across the country, opens admission to new people in prison and adds volume to the setup. In a second, progressive phase, care is planned to extend to family members and cohabitants of those receiving treatment.
The scheme remains in broad strokes the same: individual care by videoconference from Liberté's room in Batán, administrative coordination with Mutual AMI for the management of solidarity rates, and coordination by Ricardo Augman, MSc. What changes is the scale —a team of mental health field workers working simultaneously, distributed across the country— and the continuity. The program becomes a stable offer, not bounded in time.
Information on how to access the program, admission criteria and contact channels for referrals will be available on the Mental Health Program page from the launch.
