At the neighborhood police station Olaya Herrera of Cartagena presented a riot on the afternoon of May 12. The event was carried out by 37 inmates who protested the situation of overcrowding in which they were.
the commander of Metropolitan Police of CartagenaColonel Wilson Parada, explained that the situation arose around 3:00 p.m. “The detainees were from one of the cells, but the fact did not leave any injuries, neither in the detainees nor in the uniformed officers,” he said in statements for Time.
“An inter-institutional intervention was carried out with the support of the Unit for Dialogue and Maintenance of Order (UNDMO), we proceeded to intervene in the cells where approximately 30 people remain sheltered with an insurance measure by a judicial authority, currently in the custody of the National Police,” detailed the colonel for W Radius.
Due to the contingency, several streets surrounding the station were closed. For her part, the Secretary of Government of the ‘Heroica’, Ana María González Forero, provided details about the situation, in this regard she commented:
“As the product of the confiscation of prohibited elements, today at the Olaya barracks station, there were some disturbances inside cell number one, this situation was quickly controlled by the National Police and was accompanied by the human rights team and prison affairs. No injuries were reported, all the detainees will be transferred to the Bellavista annex.
Due to the overcrowded situation in the prisons of Cartagenathe personera of the city, Carmen de Caro, had initiated an investigation against the Secretary of Government, since complaints have repeatedly been reported by the inmates.
“The overcrowding is total, in a cell suitable for 10 people there are up to 40 detainees; The poor infrastructure conditions of the police stations, humidity, and insecurity due to holes made by the inmates were verified,” the official told w.radius
Following the announcement by the Attorney General’s Office to launch an investigation process against the mayoress Claudia López for the overcrowding in Bogotá, the Secretary of Security, Óscar Gómez Heredia, spoke. The official called on the national government to attend to the Police stations and Immediate Reaction Units (URI), since these were not intended to be permanent retention centers.
The Public Ministry affirmed that after carrying out judicial inspections it found levels of overcrowding 200%. Among the findings, in the Police stations, is the availability of a single bathroom for 120 people. In the case of Engativá, it was evidenced that there were people confined in the garbage room.
In response, Gómez Heredia affirmed that: “the police stations and the URIs require attention from the National Government because these facilities are not built or designed to house persons deprived of liberty, today we have 3,265 private persons in these facilities, with overcrowding 265%, likewise within these people there are 500 convicted persons who should be in prisons,” according to a quote The viewer.
In response to these accusations, the Security Secretariat assured that prison overcrowding is a structural problem in the country, which is not only present in Bogotá. Which has been maintained over the years due to conflicts of jurisdiction between local and national governments. “Article 17 of Law 67 of 1993 is not clear in this regard and therefore the Constitutional Court has issued some orders in order to clarify and distribute powers”
