Congress prevents mass exodus from Colombia’s overcrowded prisons
Congress prevents mass exodus from Colombia’s overcrowded prisons
written by Adriaan Alsema June 14, 2016
Just before going on summer recess, Colombia’s congress approved a provisional bill to prevent the pending release of some 20,000 crime suspects from Colombia’s over crowded prisons.
Congress was forced to quickly pass a bill that extends the legal time limit a crime suspect can be held in jail.
Due to administrative chaos in the prison system and major clogging at the country’s prosecution offices, thousands of crime suspects have been held in jail without being tried.
The constitutional court ruled in April that all suspects who have been in jail for more than the legally allowed period of time should be released on July 7.
. . .
To prevent this, Congress extended a provisional law passed in 2015 that allowed the prosecution to hold crime suspects longer than commonly allowed.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/congress-prevents-mass-exodus-colombias-overcrowded-prisons/
(Don't forget many Colombian politicians have already been tried and convicted and been sent to prison and more are under investigation.)
