Colombia: 4 thousand prisoners will be released due to pandemic Covid-19

Colombian President Iván Duque signed a decree on Tuesday that will allow the release of 4,000 prisoners in different jails in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Duque signed the Decree of Penitentiary and Prison Emergency that contains 33 articles, issued on March 23 by the Ministry of Justice and the Penitentiary Institute (Inpec) together with the Minister of Justice, Margarita Cabello, and all the ministers of the office.

On April 14, it was learned that Inpec carried out 55 diagnostic tests, of which 15 were positive.

The President took this measure after protests registered in 13 Colombian prisons, where they asked for sanitary measures to prevent the entry of the coronavirus into penitentiary centers.

In the La Modelo prison in Bogotá, the demonstration was suppressed by the Army and Inpec officials, leaving at least 23 inmates dead.

The first coronavirus case was reported in the Villavicencio prison, where a man who was released died on April 1 at a local hospital. A few days later two inmates became ill, one of them died.

This decree allows people who are in preventive detention or house arrest for six months to be released under the following conditions:

• Inmates over 60 years of age who are not convicted of explicitly excluded crimes.
• Pregnant mothers.
• Sentenced to terms of five years or less
• Mothers with children under three years of age
• Patients with cancer, HIV, kidney failure, diabetes, insulionedpendeintes, lung disorder, among other serious diseases.
• People with reduced mobility due to disability
• Convicted for wrongful crimes
• Those who have served 40 percent of the custodial sentence
  All people who have tested positive for coronavirus will also be released from jails, as long as they are not part of the excluded.

"La medida no resuelve todos los asuntos atinentes al #coronavirus. Pero, si se toman las decisiones adecuadas, como lo estamos proponiendo, se podría reducir el riesgo para privados de la libertad y para los colombianos": Fiscal General
Ver entrevistahttps://t.co/EgWKzN03i3

— Fiscalía Colombia (@FiscaliaCol) April 8, 2020

The process is estimated to take around fifteen days.

The directors of the prisons or the attorneys for the accused may make the request before a Judge of Guarantees appointed by the coordinator of the Center for Judicial Services.

For the study, the Prosecutor’s Office will have three days to send the documents, and once it has all the requirements, the Judge will have five days to decide.

Source: Telesur