The inmates set fire to their mats to prevent police from breaking up a fight in a pavilion of Tuluá Prison where they were living overcrowded
At least 51 people have been killed and 30 injured in a fire caused by inmates during a riot in the Colombian prison of Tuluá. The tragedy happened this morning when police went to the prison to intervene in a fight between inmates. At first it was thought that they were plotting an escape. The other inmates set fire to the mattresses in the cells to block the passage of the officers and “cover up the situation,” said the director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, General Tito Castellanos.
The flames reached excessive proportions, causing a thick smoke to spread through the corridor, trapping the mutineers. The prison houses 1,267 inmates, 17% more than the total capacity of the establishment. About 180 held in a medium-security ward were affected by the heat and smoke. In fact, the “majority of the dead were due to inhalation” of gases. The officers had to resort to the fire extinguishers while waiting for the firefighters to arrive quickly, who will continue the extinguishing work. During the fire, officials evacuated dozens of prisoners. “In another case, the result would have been worse than what we have now,” said Castellanos, who described the incident as a “great tragedy”. Many of the deceased perished in their dungeons.
“Unfortunately, there was a riot in pavilion number eight of Tuluá Prison, with an unfortunate result,” the general lamented. According to him, the prisoners “by setting fire to the mats” did not “measure the consequences” of what could happen. Among the injured, all transferred to hospitals in the region, several are in critical condition, six of whom are police officers who assisted in the evacuation. Due to the fire, numerous relatives of the inmates gathered at the gates of the prison, experiencing moments of fear and panic because they did not know what was happening inside. Police have put in place a security cordon to prevent anyone from entering the prison.
From Portugal, where he is on a business trip, the still Colombian president, Iván Duque, has expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims and reported that he has given “appropriate orders to investigate and clarify this dire situation”. His next successor, the leftist Gustavo Petro, has indicated on social networks that the incident “forces a complete rethink of prison policy in the light of the humanization of the prison and the dignity of the prisoner.” In fact, one of the components of the program is to improve the living conditions of prisoners, as Colombia faces a serious problem of overcrowding in its prisons. With nearly 98,000 inmates, the prison population exceeds the capacity of the prison network by 18% due to a lack of budget and years of poor government management. Experts warn that this circumstance has led to the proliferation of mafia and intramural violence.
Source: La Verdad
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