A mutiny in La Modelo prison resulted in the death of 23 detainees on Saturday evening March 21 in Bogota, confined for two days. The official report also reports 90 injured, including 7 guards. Twelve other penitentiary centers in the country were the scene of revolts. Their results have not been released by the authorities. Combita high security prison, 150 kilometers north of Bogota, confirmed that two prisoners had been killed. Everywhere, the facts remain confused.
Justice Minister Margarita Cabello said on Sunday that there had been "Massive escape attempt" at the La Modelo penitentiary center, specifying that no prisoner had escaped, without giving further details on the circumstances of the killing.
"Shameful" conditions of incarceration
According to the testimony of prisoners and their families, it was the living conditions of the prison population and the inadequacy of the measures taken to protect the Covid-19 detainees that caused the insurgency. "The prison massacre has killed more people than the pandemic", points out opposition leader Gustavo Petro (Human Colombia, left). Sunday evening, Colombia – which is about to enter full quarantine – registered 235 cases of Covid-19 and 2 deaths.
In the morning, dozens of women – mothers, companions or daughters of prisoners – braved the order of confinement to come and demand news before La Modelo. Faced with the television cameras present, all recall that the conditions of imprisonment in Colombia are dramatic, "Inhuman", "Infamous". According to figures from the National Penitentiary Institute (INPEC), some 120,000 prisoners are crammed into prisons planned to receive 80,000. The overcrowding rate exceeds 200% in some establishments. Almost a third of the country's prisoners are awaiting trial.
"There is no health problem in the prisons that could have justified an uprising, however, said the Minister of Justice, Mrs Cabello. There is not a single case of Covid-19 among the detainees, nor among the administrative and surveillance staff. "
Opposition senator Ivan Cepeda considers "Completely irresponsible" what the minister said: "Prison overcrowding is a health risk in normal times, he reminds. The coronavirus crisis makes it even more dramatic. " In all the prisons of the country, the hygienic conditions are disastrous, the food precarious.
