After a festive week, a surprise excavation operation was carried out in the prison, which made it possible to discover 122 mobile phones, 30 Internet modems, many televisions and pregnant, and 184 bottles of alcohol.
Le Monde with AFP
Colombian prisons are not “leisure clubs”: the Colombian administration has opened an investigation after a week -long party, with musicians and alcohol in Gogo, in the famous picota prison in Bogota, A -We we learned from an official source on Wednesday. “This type of party, this type of behavior, the entry of alcohol, electronic devices, etc. is repetitive, and that is precisely why we started a disciplinary inspection in the establishment of the Picota yesterday “Said on a local radio Javier Sarmiento, prosecutor in charge of control of civil servants.
According to Mr. Sarmiento, the detainees celebrated from September 19 to 26 in the districts reserved for extra -extra future. In videos published by the Colombian press, we can see in particular two famous singers of Vallenato (a local musical genre) pushing the song at the microphone in front of prisoners sipping beers and alcohols, seated in a gymnasium of the prison.
These festivals were apparently organized with the agreement of the administration. But the musicians who occurred there will have to explain “under oath that has engaged them, how paid they were, the terms of their contract, if there was one”, detailed Mr. Sarmiento. “Changes will be put in place in the prisons where the INPEC [the prison administration] cannot maintain its control,” said this press release, which announced the retirement of the current director of the Picota and the appointment of a replacement.
arsenal of revelers
A surprise excavation operation was carried out within the prison, which made it possible to discover 122 mobile phones, thirty internet modems, five tablets, three projectors, four smart watches, nineteen speakers, eleven TV decoders, 184 Bottles of liqueur, whiskey, tequila and champagne.
were also found, in areas where they were not allowed, nine large screen televisions, seventeen freezers, five frigidaires, twenty-five electric stoves, nine mixers …
In March, the government of the outgoing president Ivan Duque (2018-2022) had already dismissed the head of the prison administration and the then director of the Picota for irregular exit permits granted to a businessman accused of having poured bribes to a multinational.
This same month, a dangerous drug dealer, known by the pseudonym “Matamba”, a member of the feared clan del Golfo sought for extradition by the United States, had escaped the Picota with the alleged complicity of Guardians. He was finally killed in May by the security forces.
Since then, four directors have followed one another at the head of the Picota. “Unfortunately, we note that people are changed, apart, suspended, but this circle of corruption within penal establishments is cyclical,” deplored the attorney general Sarmiento.