Office of the Ombudsman proposes reform of the country's penitentiary and prison system

On Monday, the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, proposed a comprehensive reform of the penitentiary and prison system. For the autonomous body, the problem of overcrowding in police stations poses a risk to the rights of persons deprived of their liberty.

Camargo presented the proposal at the forum 'The crisis of prison overcrowding: progress and challenges to overcome', which was attended by authorities from the Ministry of Justice, the National Police, the Superior Council of the Judiciary, the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) and the Prison and Prison Services Unit (Uspec).

“The prison crisis, added to the events of the past few days, highlights the need to carry out a legislative reform that reorients the prison and prison system,” explained the Ombudsman. According to Camargo, it is important to restore trust to society in its institutions, “and that it allows the fulfilment of the purposes of human rights custody and protection,” he added.

For this reason, the official argued that a new criminal policy is needed that focuses on crime prevention, facilitates rehabilitation and allows breaking the criminal cycle of recidivism in prison. “We need a serious and coherent criminal policy, which is really useful in the task of providing security for citizens, but without neglecting the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty,” Camargo said.

The current overcrowding situation

With this in mind, the Office of the Ombudsman announced that in the coming days it will release a report on the conditions of human rights and overcrowding in temporary detention centers throughout the country.

At the moment, there are current figures that indicate that the level of overcrowding in Inpec prisons amounts to 20.6 per cent; “which represents an overpopulation of 16,621 persons deprived of liberty, for the quota capacity that amounts to 80,647,” the autonomous agency said in a press release.

The Office of the Ombudsman clarified that although the percentage has fallen in detention centers compared to the years prior to the covid-19 pandemic, this has a fundamental reason: “the humanitarian crisis has moved to temporary detention centers”, such as the URIs of the Prosecutor's Offices and Police stations. “There is an overpopulation of approximately 17,647 people compared to the maximum installed capacity, which represents an overcrowding figure of 217.4%”, the document reads.

Among the situations highlighted by the agency that affect the human rights of prisoners are: ineffective access to basic services such as the provision of health services and rehabilitation and social reintegration processes, the lack of quality of the food they receive and the lack of adequate living spaces that ensure sanitary conditions.

While state efforts have been made to manage the crisis, Camargo says that they have not been enough. “We note with concern that the criminal policy of the Colombian State has been characterized by the creation of new crimes within the Criminal Code and by a general increase in existing sanctions,” said the defender. It is for this reason that there is an urgent need to reform the penitentiary and prison system (...) with the highest quality standards, in order to avoid any risk of flight”.

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