At least 51 people died amid a fire in a prison in the city of Tuluá, Colombia, which started during a riot in the early hours of Tuesday (28), said the director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute.
“It is a tragic and disastrous event,” said General Tito Castellanos. “Apparently there was a riot, and the prisoners set fire to some mattresses,” he detailed. Of the victims, 49 died while still in prison, while the other two died en route to a hospital.
The prison has 1,267 inmates, and the block where the fire started houses 180 of them. About 24 people are receiving treatment in hospitals, and the flames have already been brought under control by firefighters.
As in many other Latin American countries, prisons in Colombia are overcrowded. The institutions have a capacity for 81,000 detainees in the country, but currently house around 97,000, according to official figures.
President Iván Duque, who is in Portugal, said he had given instructions for investigations into the episode to be launched.
The newly elected Gustavo Petro expressed solidarity with the families of the dead and asked the country to rethink the prison policy adopted to take into account the dignity of prisoners. “The Colombian state sees prison as a space for revenge, not rehabilitation,” wrote Petro, who takes office on Aug. 7.
