Minjusticia responds to Claudia López: URI and Police stations “are their responsibility”

The response came after the president asked the Ministry of Justice to ensure the safety of the prisoners, in the Covid-19 pandemic, in the face of the critical situation of overcrowding in the Police stations and the URIs.

Overcrowding has been one of the most critical problems in jails, Police stations and URIs in the capital. However, today the lives of many of them are at risk, since by not being able to comply with the security measures by the Covid – 19, they could become a focus of massive contagion. Against this background, the Mayor of Bogotá asked the Ministry of Justice for actions to attend to the inmates.

Upon learning of the critical problems that the inmates of the URI and Police stations are going through, the Mayor of Bogotá assured that it was necessary and urgent to work together with the Ministry to mitigate the risks of contagion. In the letter, the mayor Claudia López assured that the Mayor’s Office had already repeatedly proposed actions.

“Since February we have offered the National Government alternatives at the expense of the District, for the generation of quotas for the unionized population, as is the case of the construction of a new territorial detention facility on the La Picota properties, according to an agreement 565 of 2018, receiving a negative response, ”says the letter. Therefore, López asked that both INPEC and the National Police carry out the corresponding transfers of the inmates, who were carriers of the virus, so as not to put the lives of the other inmates at risk.

>>> Read: Secretary of Security asks the Government to work together to attend to URIs

Upon request, Margarita Cabello, Minister of Justice, assured that the URI and the Police Stations were the responsibility of the mayors of each city. However, he added that he has constant communication with the capital’s security secretary, Hugo Acero, and that he is waiting for confirmation that there is a place to transfer some inmates.

“We offered them collaboration with food and we are waiting for their response,” said the minister, who added that all letters sent by the Mayor’s Office have been answered. “We have always been willing to collaborate.” And he concluded: “I only remind the mayor, because she knows it, that the situation of these people is her responsibility. The National Government has at least 15,000 inmates from Bogotá in its penitentiary centers. “

It may interest you: Personería asks for measures to attend the police stations and the URI of the capital

While more effective measures are established to prevent detention centers from becoming contagion epicenters, the Mayor of Bogotá maintains its actions in Police stations and URIs, such as fumigations, delivery of biosafety kits, maintenance to the stations, toilet kits and mats for inmates.

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