The difficult situation that was experienced for more than 12 hours last Sunday, due to the mutiny of the inmates of the Valledupar Central Police Station, the authorities reached a dialogue and proceeded to transfer 70 inmates to the Valledupar Police Command. Cesar and the entry of others to the city jails is managed so that they serve the sentence.
Parallel to this, and once calm was achieved in the place, a police force with the presence of the Attorney General’s Office, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Government Secretariat and the Municipal Ombudsman, proceeded to carry out a search in which cell phones were confiscated, drugs and other items hidden between the ceiling and mattresses.
In its latest report, the National Police reported that the actions are due to complaints filed by citizens, through the different social networks and media where they warned that “personnel deprived of their liberty who are detained in the police station the Valledupar permanent has been committing crimes”
The National Police, through its institutional capacity through the unit for dialogue and maintenance of order (UNDMO); proceeded to intervene the cells where approximately 500 people sheltered with an insurance measure by judicial authority remain, currently in the custody of the National Police, without having to date allocation of quotas that allow to resolve the overcrowding that the institution has within the different stations police.
In the search and control tasks, several mobile devices (cell phones) were seized, and narcotics hidden in different compartments (mats, books, radios); which were left at the disposal of the competent authority.
MORE THAN 10 HOURS OF DIALOGUE
The commander of the Barranquilla Metropolitan Police, Brigadier General, Jorge Antonio Urquijo Sandoval, reported that several of the inmates were transferred to other prisons, some of them with minor injuries to their bodies, apparently after assaulting each other.
“A group of people deprived of liberty rioted arbitrarily and generated an outbreak of fire and a situation of disturbances that affected the people who live around this sector,” explained Urquijo Sandoval.
“Hand in hand with them, we exhausted all the resources of the dialogue to reach a mutual agreement with the inmates, and thus restore the peace of mind of the people in the sector,” Brigadier said later.
In the excess, the prisoners through videos, stated that they were injured with blunt objects by the public force that was deployed in the surroundings of the prison to suppress the riot, however, the Brigadier General, Jorge Antonio Urquijo Sandoval, He clarified that there was never an aggressive response from the uniformed officers.
“There were some injured inmates who allegedly attacked each other. Some deprived of liberty were rescued in the first instance and transferred to other prisons to protect their integrity. It is worth mentioning that the security protocols that were developed to protect the integrity of the inhabitants around the penitentiary was total isolation.
For his part, the Departmental Government Secretary, Eduardo Esquivel, stated that around 25 inmates were injured with knives and blunt objects. “They insistently stated that they were not going to leave, there are approximately 25 or 35 injured.”
The official reiterated that the inmates made a hole through which they would try to escape en masse. In the same way, they set fire to some mattresses and caused damage to the station, “fortunately it did not go too far and the situation could be controlled; now we must work to end the overcrowding that exists in the permanent area because this cannot continue to happen.”
Some inhabitants of the sector, through videos posted on social networks, made known the long hours of ordeals that they had to live, in addition to the damage to their homes, due to stones thrown by the prisoners at the uniformed officers.
“Stones fell into my house, damaging our roofs. One of the stones fell next to a relative of mine who is disabled. We need the authorities to give us a definitive solution in this case,” said an affected resident.
In the afternoon, the situation was controlled by the public forces and 70 inmates were transferred to the National Police Command in the 12 de Octubre neighborhood, after the day of dialogue that lasted several hours.
PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OPENED INVESTIGATION
The Attorney General’s Office recently opened an investigation against the mayor of the capital of Cesar, Mello Castro González, after evidencing a 930% overcrowding in the La Permanente Police Station, where 558 PPL were found despite the fact that the facilities only have space for 60 people.
In addition, they do not have an adequate place to receive visitors and the agents must lend their cell phones and data plans so that the detainees can connect to their court hearings.
Among other tests, the control body asked the local leaders to list the measures adopted since they took office, if work groups have been held to address this problem, as well as to indicate the commitments acquired and the degree of compliance.
With the opening of the investigations, the Attorney General’s Office seeks to establish whether the legal obligations of these territorial entities have been complied with during the constitutional period of the aforementioned leaders, specifically those of creating, directing, organizing, administering, sustaining, and monitoring prisons. or preventive detention centers, through the allocation of resources, among others.
The Valledupar Ombudsman, headed by Silvio Cuello, filed a guardianship action to expedite the transfer of those deprived of their liberty at the Police Central Permanente whose rights, according to the complaint, have been violated due to the overcrowding they suffer.
The Sixth Administrative Oral Court of Valledupar ruled, in first instance, in favor of the Municipal Ombudsman of Valledupar, the Guardianship Action presented by the representative of the Public Ministry and the National Directorate of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, INPEC, is ordered to In the month of August of the year 2022, within a term of fifteen (15) days, he had to act administratively on the transfer of persons deprived of their liberty in the Permanent Central Police Station to a prison that is not overcrowded.
In addition, INPEC was ordered to, in a coordinated manner, once the review and transfer process of the Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Valledupar Central Permanent Police Station is completed, to a place where the prevalence of Protected Fundamental Rights or, failing that, to a Prison and Penitentiary Center that is not overcrowded, supply daily Food with the necessary nutritional balance, assume and guarantee the Comprehensive Provision of Medical Services, supply of Medicines and Supplies, as well as transfers for Appointments Medical Treatments and Medical Procedures that these people require, according to the reasons set forth in the motivational part of this ruling.”