BOGOTA, Mar 23 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – An attempted prison break in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, left 23 inmates dead and 83 others injured, of whom 32 are hospitalised, Justice Minister, Margarita Cabello, said.
“Today is a very painful day for the country. I have to report that, last night, there was a massive and criminal attempt to escape from the La Modelo penitentiary,” said Cabello.
Seven prison guards and officials belonging to the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) were injured, two of them critically.
Also on Saturday night, riots occurred in several other prisons in Colombia, as part of a large-scale scheme to break out of jail, said the minister.
“There were no escapes … there was a criminal plan to escape that was thwarted,” she said.
Cabello denied that the hygienic conditions in the prisons raised the risk of contracting the COVID-19, and dismissed this as a concern for the inmates and the motive behind the riots.
“There also are no sanitary problems that could have led to the plan or the riots. Today, there is not even a single case of infection, not an inmate, administrator or guard, who has the virus, or who could be quarantined due to the virus,” said the minister.– NNN-PRENSA LATINA
