$ 25 million will cost the prison emergency

Ecuadornews:

Overcrowding reaches 41% in the social rehabilitation centers of the country. In Latacunga there is no water and violence inside is increasing. Carmen (protected name) is worried.

His son Miguel has been working for a year at the Regional Center for Social Rehabilitation in Latacunga. The woman says that in the cell where her son is being held, there are six more inmates, and she even points out that some sell drugs to others deprived of their liberty.

“From there they get worse, it’s not true that they are rehabilitated,” he says. He also explains that in that center, which was inaugurated in the administration of former president Rafael Correa, they do not have water and that even their biological needs are made in plastic bags.

María (protected name) indicates that within the regional rehabilitation center of Guayas, there are mafias that blackmail those deprived of their liberty.

His brother, who has been detained for three years, is asked by other inmates between $ 100 and $ 200 in exchange for not hurting him. “He calls me crying and begs me to deposit the money,” he says. Ernesto Pazmiño, director of the National Service for Integral Attention to Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders, recognizes the problem.

He affirms that the declaration of emergency is fundamental because the “system collapses”. To deal with the situation, Pazmiño says that $ 25 million is needed immediately. In his opinion, the intervention must be carried out in three areas: infrastructure, security and reduction of overcrowding.

It specifies that there are 41,000 people deprived of liberty (PPL), but the capacity of the centers is only for 25 thousand, for this reason overcrowding reaches 42%. To reduce these indices, the director of the National Service is committed to the construction of metal-mechanic, shoe-making and tailoring workshops, as well as educational classrooms.

But also the official thinks about a project of merit penalty reductions, something similar to the 2×1 system, where, for example, for every two days of studies that the inmate performs and has the best grades he would reduce one day of his sentence.

But this is not the only problem, for example, in the regional center of Latacunga there is no water and the security and scanning cameras do not work. Ricardo Camacho, former Secretary of Social Rehabilitation, believes that the current rehabilitation centers are “white elephants without adequate technical planning.”

Consider that there are no clear protocols. Violence grows in prisons Eight deprived of freedom have died since January of this year within the prison system of the country.

The last death was recorded on Sunday at the Rehabilitation Center of Turi (Cuenca), where in the Tomebamba pavilion, maximum security, seven inmates assaulted Santiago U. The Order Maintenance Unit (UMO) tried to control the problem with non-lethal weapons such as riot gear and tear gas grenades.

As a result of this confrontation the Colombian Andrés V. died allegedly by the impact of a tear gas bomb. Santiago U., who is serving a sentence of 16 years for double crime, is hospitalized with a reserved prognosis. Inmate Víctor J., one of the assailants, is prosecuted for attempted murder with a knife.

While the police Byron A., who fired the bomb, is in the isolation unit of the Judicial Complex, until the respective audience. Pazmiño believes that the social rehabilitation model is not working. “Yes there is more violence in prisons, because the system is not working.”

At his discretion with the declaration of emergency will attack the processes of social rehabilitation of the country. Camacho estimates that a group of prison treatment agents should be created in prisons. Government authorities met yesterday to analyze the prison situation.

According to the Vice President of the Republic, Otto Sonnenholzner, the declaration of emergency progresses. He announced that the personnel of the Armed Forces will be responsible for security on the exterior of the rehabilitation centers.

Pazmiño believes that this decision will prevent the entry of weapons into prison centers in the country. The military will guard the outer perimeter of the prisons. (I)

Source:  https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/judicial/12/emergenciacarcelaria-latacunga-ppl