In dialogue with Blu Radio, the mayor of Pitalito, Yider Luna Joven, highlighted the serious overcrowding situation faced by the municipal prison and the Police transitional center for detainees, an establishment that has capacity for 600 inmates.
The local president added that part of the problem of overcrowding in the penitentiary center is because they also receive people deprived of their liberty from Putumayo, taking into account that the Mocoa prison, which was destroyed by the avalanche in April 2017, has not yet been built.
“The Pitalito prison is designed for 600 people deprived of their liberty and today we have more than 1,100 inmates. The jail that is in the police has capacity for eight people and today we have 50 detainees, So we cannot react to the different operations because when arrests are made there is nowhere to take these people,” said the municipal mayor.
In that sense, Mayor Luna Joven emphasized that, “As a result of the Mocoa prison being swept away by the avalanche, since then they have not been able to build the new prison.”
“What I mean is that most of the deprived of his freedom in Putumayo, they are sending him to the Pitalito prison,” he said.
Finally, Mayor Yider Luna said that the requests have already been made to Inpec, but, to date, it has not received any response that could provide a timely solution to the problem of overcrowding in the Pitalito prison.
“Although we have made calls and requests to Inpec, to Uspec, we do not see the results and, for that reason, we have been affected by this problem of overcrowding in prison. We are waiting for the Uspec to enable us with some patios and, in this way, reduce the crowding of inmates. We have also asked the departmental and national government for support,” concluded Mayor Yider Luna.
