The director of the National Prison Service said the fire started during an inmate protest at night. “It is a tragic and catastrophic event,” General Tito Castellanos told Caracol Radio on Tuesday. “There was a situation, obviously unrest, and the detainees lit a few mattresses and a fire broke out which unfortunately caused the death of 49 detainees.” He later said two other people had died after being taken to hospital. Another 30 people were injured, he said, and dozens were evacuated. The prison in the southwestern city has 1,267 inmates. The cell where the fire broke out houses 180. Colombia’s prisons are overcrowded, with a capacity of 81,000 people but house about 97,000, according to official figures. The president of the country, Iván Duque, who is visiting Portugal, wrote on Twitter that the incident will be investigated. “We are saddened by the events at Tuluá Prison, Valle del Cauca. “I am in contact with Castellano and I have given instructions to proceed with the investigations that allow us to clarify this terrible situation,” he wrote. Colombia has released some detainees during the coronavirus pandemic after more than 20 detainees were killed during demonstrations in 2020 against overcrowding and lack of services. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am Violence in prisons “forces a full review of prison policy towards a humanization of the prison and the dignity of the detainee,” said President-elect Gustavo Petro, who will take office in August. Hundreds of people have died in prisons in neighboring Ecuador in the past year, in what the government says is violence linked to competition between drug gangs, which it has failed to quell. Many prisons in Latin America are overcrowded.
