THE TELEPHONE SIGNAL INHIBITORS in the country’s prisons are obsolete and are not operating, in many cases by court order, while the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) works on urgent measures to confront the scourge of extortion from detention facilities.
As is known, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, given the increase in extortion, asked the Ministry of Justice and Law, the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Inpec and the Gaula (military and police) to reinforce the technical and human team to vigorously confront this phenomenon, which has produced a total of 5,262 victims so far this year.
The director of the prison institute, Colonel Daniel Fernando Gutiérrez Rojas, revealed that the inhibitors are from the old 3G technology, while many are also turned off by court order. “At the moment they are not operating in any part of the country.”
“Cell phone signal inhibitors were an effective solution at the time, when they were used to prevent criminals from inside prisons, especially in terms of extortion,” he said.
He explained that the equipment that Inpec has is 3G technology and at the moment it is working with 4G and 5G. “Replacing this obsolete equipment at this time would be too expensive, but we are working on finding quick solutions,” he explained.
He insisted that the criminals discovered the blind spots of the inhibitors and managed to make and receive calls to carry out criminal actions. “For this reason, they are not an optimal solution, but work has been going on in the search for other mechanisms that make it possible to avoid crimes being committed from inside the prisons,” she said.
He said that, in addition, “the residents located in the vicinity of the prisons complained permanently because they were affected by the signal blockages in their daily activities, work and study, especially in Cómbita and Ibagué.”
“Inpec had been suffering a series of lawsuits from the affected neighbors and they always won those lawsuits and in many cases the judges of the Republic ordered them to be turned off due to the impact on citizens. I reiterate, today they are not operating, “said Gutiérrez Rojas.
He recalled that in the past the authorities ruled on individual and popular actions filed by citizens against the inhibitors because they considered that the collective rights of a citizen or a community were being violated, due to the implementation of cell phone signal blocker technology around the prisons.
against crime
On the other hand, the intelligence services that fight against extortion told EL NUEVO SIGLO that some citizens were instrumentalized by criminal networks, so that they permanently demand that the signal inhibitors be turned off because they suffered serious effects on their health and in their daily lives, and also threatened multimillion-dollar lawsuits.
An intelligence agent explained that “when Inpec installed a signal inhibitor antenna in a cell block of a certain prison, then it was vandalized by the inmates themselves and when it was installed very close to the prison, then the criminals paid citizens to destroy them. The damages were permanent and in many cases they could not be repaired but rather install a new one at a very high cost”.
The intelligence agents explain that by law there are telephone booths inside the prisons so that the inmates can communicate with their families and it is believed that suddenly through this medium they can make extortionate and threatening calls.
He also said that how they use electronic means for extortion is being investigated.
Strategies
For his part, Colonel Gutiérrez Rojas affirms that “in the fight against corruption and extortion we are generating very important strategies that go hand in hand. If there were no extortion, there would be no corruption, but we are committed to the fact that this phenomenon must end at some point with the help of all officials and the prison population.”
He affirms that they created a special unit that has a prosecutor specialized in the fight against corruption assigned to Inpec. They also have officials from the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate and Interpol who “provide us with support in terms of investigation and training issues.”
“With this work team, processes can be carried out against officials who eventually violate transparency and are caught breaking the law. I believe that in the medium and long term the achievements in the fight against corruption will be seen, of course, guaranteeing the due process to which officials involved in investigations are entitled. But, I insist, we are advancing in those terms”.
It specifies that in terms of extortion cases from prisons “the first thing we did was a characterization of the crime and its perpetrators and at the moment between 30 and 40 deprived of liberty are being investigated who continue to commit crimes from the prisons where they are.”
He insists that once they are fully identified, they will be isolated and transferred to other detention centers. A project is even being analyzed to create a pavilion exclusively for these people who repeat the crime from prison. This unit would have special surveillance. “In addition, we will continue with the permanent searches to avoid these events and analyzing other alternatives to face this scourge.”
The numbers
There are currently 173,367 people deprived of their liberty in Colombia, among them 63,912 in house arrest and 5,965 with electronic surveillance, while an anti-corruption plan and controls are being carried out to prevent crimes from being committed from prisons.
Gutiérrez Rojas affirmed that the demanding measures that he has been implementing, in coordination with the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police, to reduce crime from prisons, have generated a series of death threats.
He explained that there are 100,183 people deprived of their liberty in national detention facilities, generating overcrowding in the order of 23%, while in departmental, municipal and district prisons there are 2,907 citizens, and in establishments of the Public Force another 400 people.
The officer explains that due to the situation in the Immediate Reaction Units of the Prosecutor’s Office and Police stations, there is an increase in overcrowding.
It insists that the increase in people accused of committing criminal actions and who are under a security measure consisting of preventive detention generates increases in the percentage of overcrowding throughout the national territory.
The director of Inpec points out that “while the judicial cases are being filed and some people are released, we have been working on the processes of humanization and dignity with the deprived of liberty with the support of the high government and the resocialization plans that are gaining more followers every day and more than 75% of inmates are already working.”
It revealed that the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia of the Organization of American States (Mappoea), the International Committee of the RED Cross (ICRC) and other entities support the prison system with training, while 30% of the Inpec officials were prepared in the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), among other processes to strengthen the resocialization of people deprived of liberty.