Rugby Unión Libertad was born inside Chile’s prison system as inmates searched for a structured way to live with the routines and restrictions of incarceration. At the Valparaíso Penitentiary Complex, what started as a workshop behind barbed wire has become an official rugby team and a broader reintegration effort, organizers said. For players, the appeal goes beyond sport: they describe rugby as a discipline-building activity that helps them manage anger and prepare for life after release.
The club’s current schedule mirrors that of a league team, with three days of field training, two days in the gym and matches every weekend, according to the Associated Press. Two coaches enter the prison three times a week to run sessions for the team, which has 27 players practicing strategies, passes and kicks. On a small dirt field surrounded by guard towers, the sport offers what one inmate described as a rare chance to feel free even while guards stand watch.
Jorge Henríquez, 42, tied the program’s value to conflict prevention. He said violence is rampant inside the facility and that players sometimes “explode for no reason,” but that rugby helps “regulate” and “distance” themselves from fights so rage does not resurface, according to AP’s report. Coach Leopoldo Cerda, a teacher and volunteer who has spearheaded the project, said rugby’s demands are difficult in prison because people sleep poorly and eat poorly, but he also said the players’ attitudes have changed and that they have managed to overcome the sport’s obstacles.
Overcrowding at the Valparaíso prison compounds those challenges. The AP report said the complex holds 3,351 inmates in space built for 1,919, operating at nearly double capacity, a condition that it said contributes to precarious hygiene and health and fuels internal violence. Within that environment, Cerda said the project teaches discipline and self-control because rugby involves physical contact, and it requires teamwork for inmates to participate, the AP report said.
The rugby program developed over years, starting in 2016 as part of a workshop led by the Addiction Treatment Center. AP said the classes sparked interest among around 50 inmates who played with rugby’s oval “pill,” and that the workshop later evolved into Rugby Unión Libertad. The club gained enough momentum to face the Chilean national team, Los Cóndores, in 2024, according to AP, and participants described leaving the prison for the match as a turning point for the project’s visibility and support.
Several inmates’ stories connect the sport to personal change and to plans after release. Alex Javier Silva, 48, who has been incarcerated since 1999, told AP that “Rugby freed me” and that it “healed my soul,” adding that inside prison “you have no heart, no mind” and are not at peace. Guillermo Velásquez, 42, was among the first group involved a decade ago and returned to prison in 2019 after leaving for a time; AP said he developed the idea of founding a team after coping with drugs and fights, and that permission to use the gym was obtained in 2022. Velásquez later left prison seven months before the AP report and told AP, “Rugby saved my life.”
Off the field, Rugby Unión Libertad is linked to the Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit created in November by a collective of former inmates, educators, psychologists and coaches. AP said the foundation supports released prisoners with rugby-related training and counseling and therapy, and it partners with potential employers to help with reintegration. Cynthia Canales, a psychologist and former national rugby player who leads the foundation, said in AP’s report that “They want to change,” and that the foundation also wants to show there are “a lack of opportunities” and to address stigma.
Reintegration, however, is not guaranteed by personal intent alone, AP said, and the obstacle most often cited by coaches is stigma attached to a criminal record. Coach Cerda told AP that many men desire to change but find “closed doors,” and that society remains “deeply prejudiced.” With that in mind, organizers said former inmates can keep the training routine once out of prison, moving from a field under constant surveillance to a grass program for “All Free,” described by AP as the former inmates’ branch of Unión Libertad.