At least 49 inmates were killed and 30 injured in a fire started earlier this morning at a prison in the municipality of Tuluá in southwestern Colombia, authorities said.
The tragedy occurred in a pavilion of the municipal prison, when inmates set their beds on fire to prevent police from getting in after an attempt to escape or “cover up some situation”, General Tito Castellanos, director of Inpec (Instituto Nacional Prison and Prison). ).
“Unfortunately, there is a riot in pavilion eight of Tuluá prison, where 1,267 prisoners are housed, and 49 deaths, with a sad outcome,” the official told La W Radio.
According to Castellanos, the prisoners died in the fire that broke out around 2 am.
“By setting the mattresses (prisoners) on fire, they didn’t measure the results,” the general said in an interview with RCN radio.
“The Tuluá Fire Department has already checked the situation,” he added.
Castellanos, who did not provide information on the escaped prisoners, said there were 30 more who were “injured and affected by the fire and smoke”, including six guards who helped evacuate the detainees.
Outside the prison, dozens of people await news from their relatives.
“I don’t know anything. Inpec doesn’t want to let us in,” María Eugenia Rojas, mother of Luis Miguel Rojas, who was held in the mansion where the riot started, tearfully told Caracol Television.
– It could be “worse” – Authorities are considering a range of possibilities, from an “escape attempt” to disturbances provoked “to cover up some situation”, according to the official report.
Right where the flames hit, there were 180 detainees who set the mattresses on fire to prevent the police from entering the mansion.
In response, agents tried to control the fire with extinguishers and managed to get dozens of prisoners alive.
“If it didn’t, the outcome would have been worse than what we have now,” Castellanos said.
According to the general, the prison housed 1,267 prisoners, 17% more than its capacity.
The forensic team is working to identify the victims.
Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro expressed his condolences to the families of the victims on Twitter, calling for “a complete rethinking of prison policy in the face of the prisoner’s dignity (…)”.
Recalling the deaths of 23 prisoners in a riot in La Modelo prison in Bogota in March 2020, the leftist, who will take office on August 7, said, “The Colombian state sees the prison as a space for revenge, not rehabilitation.” .
President Iván Duque quoted what happened on Twitter without mentioning the numbers.
“We are sorry for the events that took place in Tuluá prison (…) I have ordered an investigation to clarify this dire situation. I stand in solidarity with the families of the victims,” the President wrote.
The Colombian prison system is home to 97,426 inmates. According to Inpec, the overpopulation is 16,251.
source: Noticias
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