363 detainees at home for jail have escaped in 2022: Inpec

The director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC), General Tito Castellanos, revealed this Wednesday in a press conference that 363 detainees who were sheltered in detention and house imprisonment have escaped so far in 2022. The official indicated that the cases were reported after carrying out an inspection plan in different areas of the country.

The entity determined that there are more than 74,000 who have the house-to-prison benefit in Colombia, of those 363 escaped in the first four months of the year. Faced with the inspection plan, the officer explained that controls were increased to establish in which cases there was complicity on the part of those responsible for monitoring the custody of detainees and convicts.

INPEC requested the judges of penalties of the Republic to declare the escape as such in order to prosecute the fugitives for this crime. “We are carrying out a more thorough control and we have asked the judges of assurances to revoke the measure and we are in co-responsibility with the authorities and even with the prisoner himself, because it is a shared responsibility,” said General Castellanos.

It should be recalled that on April 4, the Constitutional Court assured that there is a systematic violation of rights in URIs and Police stations. The Full Chamber established a medium-term and long-term action plan, the implementation of which should take up to six years, in which it mandates, among others, “reduce and end overcrowding in inspections, police stations and substations, immediate reaction units and similar places”.

In response to the court's decision, the Minister of Justice, Wilson Ruiz Orejuela, announced at the press conference that this Wednesday, April 6, the transfer of 2,643 convicted persons who are in URI and police stations to different prisons will begin. These actions are recorded following the Court's order to move prisoners from these establishments in less than two months.

The plan of action of the Constitutional Court

What was established by the high court consists of two phases: one transitional and the other definitive. The first part orders the transfer of prisoners for a period of two months, which has already begun by the Ministry of Defence. In turn, it is established that INPEC is four months old must be guaranteed minimum conditions of food, access to adequate toilets, ventilation and sunlight, and must separate detention centers between men, women, minors and adults.

In the event that overcrowding persists, territorial authorities must have buildings, under their control or by lease, that have adequate safety, health, hygiene and sanitation conditions, to temporarily transfer detainees. For this they will have one year.

In the final phase, the Constitutional Court affirmed that, once the transitional phase has been completed, together with INPEC and the Prison and Prison Services Unit (Uspec), the territorial authorities will have to give a definitive solution to the extension of quotas for the prosecuted population. For this, they will need to determine what their funding will be like.

The High Court assured that the Ministries of Justice and Finance will have to include in the General Budget of the Nation an item specifically intended for the expansion of quotas in prisons.

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