Colombia prison fire leaves at least 49 dead, 30 injured

A fire inside a prison in Colombia has left 49 dead and 30 injured so far, according to what General Tito Yesid Castellanos, director of the country’s National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) reported this Tuesday (28).

According to the official, there was an attempted riot in pavilion number 8 of the Tuluá prison, in the department of Valle del Cauca, where 1,267 inmates are held. He added that the inmates are receiving support from the Fire Department and the Police and the causes of the riot are being investigated.

“We are talking about medium security prisoners, but we are still identifying the victims. Some of the prison guards were injured, but we have no casualties among them. The fire was brought under control and at this time we have not recorded any escaped prisoners,” Castellanos said.

For his part, President Iván Duque regretted the events: “I am in contact with @DInpec, General Tito Castellanos, and we have given instructions to carry out investigations to clarify this terrible situation. My sympathies to the victims’ families,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro sent his “condolences to the families” of prisoners killed during the fire and warned that the incident “forces a complete rethinking of prison policy” in the country.

“The Colombian State has seen the prison as a space for revenge and not for rehabilitation. What happened in Tulua, like the massacre at La Modelo, forces a complete rethinking of prison policy in the face of the humanization of the prison and the dignification of the prisoner,” Petro wrote on his Twitter account.

The Colombian state has looked to the prison as a space for venganza and a rehabilitation center.

What happened in Tulua, as the massacre in the Modelo compels a complete replanting of the prison policy facing the humanization of the prison and the dignification of the prisoner.

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 28, 2022