Protest Over Coronavirus Conditions In Colombian Prison Leaves 23 Dead

Source: DANIEL MUNOZ / Getty

A deadly riot broke out in a Colombia prison, leaving 23 inmates dead and 90 more injured. According to authorities on Sunday, this was a result of rising tensions over the spread of the coronavirus in such a vulnerable location.

Justice Minister Margarita Cabello described the events at the La Modelo prison in Bogota as an attempted prison escape, but advocates for inmates said that officials had cracked down on inmates staging a peaceful protest over conditions they feared would exacerbate infections with the virus.

The conflict at La Modelo–which houses both suspects and convicts of crimes ranging from burglary to drug trafficking–began on Saturday evening. Inmates shared videos online that show people outside their cells, yelling while shots rang out in the distance. “They have us abandoned here!” one inmate yelled. “They have us like dogs.”

The body of one man was seen laying face-up on the roof wearing a bloody gray sweatshirt. Family members gathered outside asking for information, but authorities did not provide any details about how the inmates died, saying only that seven jail workers had also been injured, two of them critically.

Cabello went on to say that no inmates had escaped and none had been diagnosed with coronavirus. “This was a criminal attempt to escape that was thwarted,” she said in a video statement.

According to Jhon Leon, director of Judicial Solidarity, prisoners planned a nationwide protest Saturday evening after complaining about the dire state of jails for two weeks without getting any sort of reply. The National Prison Movement–a group of inmates and their relatives–released a statement earlier in the week, saying Colombia’s prisons don’t have enough doctors and nurses on staff, or even sufficient medicines to treat the most basic illnesses.

Leon added that about 5,000 people are housed in the jail, which includes some being kept six to a cell while others sleep in the hallways. As for the prisoners, they want elderly inmates and those with preexisting conditions to be moved to other locations and be put in isolation for their safety. They also want more transparent information on whether any inmates have been tested for the coronavirus.

“This was a peaceful protest,” Leon said. “The response of authorities was overhanded.”

Colombia had 231 confirmed  coronavirus cases and two deaths as of Sunday, but with prisons that are so notoriously overcrowded, many are concerned that the virus would spread quickly there.

Over in Brazil, hundreds of prisoners from several facilities have escaped in the past week, with family members of opposition activists jailed in Venezuela say they fear for their loved ones amid unconfirmed reports that four police officers have come down sick with the virus.