Director of La Modelo Jail Murdered in Bogotá: Safety Disaster in Colombian Prisons

2024-05-17 04:18:45

Picture supply, Personal file

Caption, Élmer Fernandez assumed the path of La Modelo in April 2024. Article info

• Writer, Writing
• Position, BBC Information World

• 4 hours

The director of the La Modelo jail, retired colonel Élmer Fernandez, 57, was murdered this Thursday in Bogotá whereas he was touring dwelling within the followingnoon.

The information was confirmed by the Colombian Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, who introduced an operation to search out these chargeable for the murder and guaranteed that the safety of the Nationwide Penitentiary Institute (Inpec) will probably be bolstered.

The photographs which are recognized of the assault present a dark-colored automotive with the mark of a shot in one of many home windows that apparently was fired by individuals on board a bike.

Colonel Fernández, who retired from the police in 2017 and had held the place in La Modelo for six weekshad obtained threats for his makes an attempt to reform and management the jail, which included fixed searches of inmates, based on native press.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, condemned the homicide and despatched a message of solidarity to Fernández’s household.

The colonel “had taken workplace on April 4, he was finishing up orders to impart self-discipline and finishing up random searches. At this time he’s vilely murdered,” Petro wrote in his X account.

His authorities is anticipated to announce a contingency plan for the nation’s prisons.

Daniel Gutiérrez, director of Inpec, mentioned that Fernández’s homicide is probably the most severe incident, that they’ve obtained 550 threats in two years and that the establishment “doesn’t have the capabilities to safeguard the lives of penitentiary officers”.

Arduous reminiscence of darkish instances

Evaluation by José Carlos Cueto, BBC Information Mundo correspondent in Colombia

Shot in the midst of the followingnoon and in the midst of a public highway.

The circumstances of the homicide of Élmer Fernández, director of the La Modelo jail in Bogotá, are a harsh reminder of darker instances for Bogota residents.

A couple of kilometers from NQS Avenue and eightieth Avenue, the place the murder occurred, hitmen ended the lifetime of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla 40 years in the past, who was waging an open warfare towards drug trafficking and arranged crime that was then headed by the Pablo Escobar’s Medellín poster.

Like Bonilla and different officers who died throughout that turbulent time, Fernández additionally confronted demise threats for his work towards crime.

The murder scene was quickly full of police, ambulances, journalists and onlookers.

From the media and official channels, persistence was requested from all drivers who should cross by police checkpoints in a time-trial operation to catch these concerned.

Because the hours cross, the preliminary shock of Colombians provides approach to indignation.

Many marvel how, if Fernández was threatened with demise, he didn’t have enough safety preparations.

Additionally they query the state of the nation’s prisons, trying with concern in direction of different Latin American international locations the place they’ve change into de facto facilities of operations for legal organizations.

There was additionally no scarcity of criticism of Petro’s administration, who promised safety enhancements and jail reforms throughout his formidable electoral marketing campaign.

There are a lot of inquiries to be resolved, however right now is a kind of days once we bear in mind a actuality that’s tough to digest: in Colombia there are nonetheless criminals who dare to problem the State.

jail emergency

Caption, La Modelo has capability for two,900 prisoners.

In February of this yr, a jail emergency was declared in Colombia, in “response to current circumstances of homicides, assaults and threats towards Inpec guard personnel in several prisons within the nation,” the Ministry of Justice reported in an announcement.

It’s the fourth emergency of this sort within the historical past of the nation, the latest having occurred in 2020 in the course of the covid-19 pandemic.

With the measure, the authorities search to manage in-person visits in prisons, have larger autonomy within the execution of budgets and request reinforcements from the general public power to ensure the safety of the penitentiary facilities and the personnel in cost.

As reported by Inpec, “among the many antecedents that led to this dedication, a 41% enhance in circumstances of extortion additionally stands out” and “a 100% enhance is noticed in safety incidents associated to jail employees in comparison with the earlier yr,” the assertion mentioned.

The La Modelo jail, which has capability for two,900 prisoners, was additionally within the information in the course of the pandemic as a result of overcrowding, when there have been sturdy riots by which 23 individuals died and 83 have been injured.

Haz click on right hereGo to learn extra tales from BBC Information Mundo.

And bear in mind you can obtain notifications in our app. Obtain the most recent model and activate them.

1715928625
#Élmer #Fernández #director #Modelo #Bogotá #murdered #center #jail #emergency #Colombia