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Prison inmates told EL TIEMPO how they survive in this prison, the main focus of covid-19 in the country with almost 900 patients.
In a space as big as three apples 7.3 percent of all coronavirus cases detected in Colombia live in overcrowding. It is the Villavicencio prison, a place that was cataloged by inmates with whom this newspaper could speak as the very hell of covid-19 in the country.
In this prison, located between the 20 de Julio and Vainilla neighborhoods of the capital of Meta, 859 patients confirmed by the virus, among deprived of liberty, officials, relatives and others in the environment. Most, of course, a prison population that doubles the capacity of the prison.
And if the overcrowding was not enough drama, in late March a virus came from far away, sneaked behind bars and settled in the worst possible scenario: impossibility of social distancing, lack of basic protection elements, precarious medical service and as many social dramas as can be imagined.
I don’t know
EL TIEMPO spoke for several days with people who have faced the outbreak from these four walls. They documented with photos and videos the conditions to which they are exposed and that reveal an indiscriminate coexistence: the healthy with the sick, the old with the young, guardians and inmates, all mixed under the shadow of suspicion.
The entry of the virus
The official account of how this unprecedented outbreak began in prison shows that the first case was in a 63-year-old man who received his release ticket in the first days of April. The subject had a rapid deterioration of the symptoms and died on the 5th. With one death the drama began. Two days later, on the 7th, the death of another 77-year-old recently released inmate confirmed that it was not an exceptional issue.
The inmates’ version is that the outbreak in that place began in March, when the mother of a man, who had visited Europe, came to visit him at the Santander ward, where there are more than 457 inmates.
With the first confirmed death, panic spread among those deprived of liberty. Easy prey for the virus were known, and there were even clashes with the security forces. “They gave us a club regardless of whether we were sick or old, but we managed to get videos to the media,” says a man who prefers to reserve his identity.
In a space as large as three apples, 7.3 percent of all the cases of coronavirus detected in Colombia live together in overcrowding.
He is in the Colombia ward, where he must share space with nearly 1,000 inmates. In his cell there are at least a dozen companions, many of them, according to what he tells and lets see the video, of legal age and with chronic diseases. And so they decided to do a 14-day voluntary quarantine. If it depends on them, nobody leaves and nobody enters, even if it costs hunger.
“They haven’t tested everyone yet, and sick people and healthy people are everywhere. They have given us elements of protection, but they are not enough. A minister said that we were going to have medicalized tents, but they were promises. Nothing has come here, ”he said one Thursday night from his cabin.
Confirmed from covid- 19
Another inmate who told his testimony to EL TIEMPO was confirmed last week as a carrier of the coronavirus. He prefers not to reveal his identity for fear of retaliation. He says that although he had no symptoms, he was part of a screening group three weeks ago.
And, although nothing hurts, he reports that colleagues who do have pain have not even received an acetaminophen pill. It highlights that there have been many errors in handling the crisis.
Regardless of the result of his test, he lives in the corridors of his block with more than one hundred companions, of whom more than half are infected as well. Resignation accompanies him day after day, because in the circumstances in which he finds himself, only two options remain: “Or live with the virus or let yourself die.”
In the midst of that feeling, he is aware that asking for freedom would be absurd, but he does ask that at least the authorities provide them with a solution in terms of health. Effective isolation, for example, is one of the most urgent requests, since it does not conceive that both healthy and infected share the same space.
Authorities respond
The management of health in prisons depends on the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec), which, in addition to delivering protection material, has held meetings with health, municipal and departmental authorities.
As a result, the Municipal Health Secretariat issued resolution 053, which establishes protocols on prison. Regarding internal control, it makes Inpec responsible for searching symptomatic cases daily, prioritizing older adults and comorbidities. “Likewise, monitoring close contacts of positive patients”, explains Tanya Cortés, Health Secretary of Villavicencio.
Inpec, in addition, must guarantee preventive isolation zones for each suspect, complying with a minimum distance of two meters. If it is a confirmed case, intramural zones will be arranged for isolation. Serious cases will be transferred to IPS, while mild or moderate cases will be handled intramurally. (Read also: The boat that made a sexual party and transmitted covid-19 to San Andrés)
“Finally, the negative cases will be in exclusive areas.”
But, beyond that protocol, the prison director, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, has recognized that it is impossible to guarantee isolation in the prison “If there are people sleeping under the beds and in the bathrooms.”
At press time, six new cases were confirmed in prison, and the inmates reported a situation of tension due to lack of food. This newspaper attempted to communicate repeatedly with the Penitentiary and Prison Services Unit, but there was no response.
Nationwide there are 987 infections in prisons, and three prisoners have died from the virus
After a month since the first transmission of covid-19 was detected in a prison, coronavirus cases in prison centers have reached 987 infections.
Villavicencio currently concentrates the majority of cases, with 859 infections between prisoners and Inpec personnel. There are also reported, so far, the death of 2 inmates and a man who died six days after leaving this prison.
It is followed by Leticia’s jail, which has 89 prisoners and an infected guard; In addition, the death of a prisoner who was at home is reported. In third place is the Ibagué prison, with 22 Inpec officials and two infected inmates; it is followed by the Florence prison, which already has 6 Inpec officials and 2 infected inmates; then, La Picota, from Bogotá, which reports 5 inmates with coronavirus, and finally there is the Guaduas prison, which has an infected prisoner.
HEALTH UNIT
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