The going rate for a Blackberry in a Colombian prison is around US$ 5,600
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Corruption in Colombia’s prisons is rife, according to an investigation by local news magazine Semana, which reveals a catalogue of corrupt practices ranging from prison guards helping inmates to escape, the widespread use of mobile phones and drugs smuggling.
According to Semana magazine, little has been done stem out of control corruption across Colombia’s 144 prisons and to root out corrupt prison guards, who regularly accept cash bribes from inmates to receive preferential treatment, change cells, to get special permission to leave prison or for transfers to less secure prisons.
“In all the prisons of Colombia, everything can be bought and sold,” Semana reported.
It costs up to US$1,200 for an inmate to buy a permit to leave a prison for 72 hours, while the going rate for a Blackberry in prison is around US$ 5,600, the magazine said.
With many high-profile inmates, including infamous drug lords, being allowed to use mobile phones, iPads, and computers with internet access in their cells, some inmates can still run their criminal operations from behind bars, Semana said.
Using their money and influence, they can also recruit prison guards as their own employees and control lucrative rackets inside jails, especially drug dealing and extortion, Semana added.
In an interview with the magazine, General Gustavo Ricaurte, head of Colombia’s prison authority, known as INPEC, said there were problems of corruption and indiscipline among some of the 11,000 prison authority guards.
“Inside the prisons there has been a laxness with prisoners who thought they were untouchable,” said General Ricaurte, who has sacked 81 prison governors and deputy governors since being elected to the post seven months ago.
Recently, INPEC has been hit by a series of corruption scandals. Earlier this year, Semana exposed army officers imprisoned for serious human rights violations enjoying luxury cells complete with air conditioning, internet and satellite TV in a military jail dubbed “Tolemaida Resort”.
Under growing pressure to crackdown on corruption and reform Colombia’s prison system, Colombian justice minister, Juan Carlos Esguerra, announced on Wednesday that the prison authority will be dismantled and replaced by a new institution overseen by the national police.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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