Last July, President Guillermo Lasso declared an emergency in the prison system in order to mobilize all human and economic resources.
The plenary session of the Judicial Council (CJ) appointed eight permanent and temporary judges for the Judicial Units Specialized of Penitentiary Guarantees of the provinces of Guayas and Azuay. The designation was given through a resolution adopted last Thursday, at a time when the country maintains an emergency declaration of the prison system ordered by President Guillermo Lasso.
According to the CJ, this designation occurs within the framework of the execution of Resolution 168-2021, through which the “extraordinary and emergent need of the judicial service of penitentiary guarantees” was declared.
President Guillermo Lasso declares the prison system in emergency
On July 22, the first president declared an emergency in the prison system in order to mobilize all the human and financial resources necessary not only to restore order within the Rehabilitation Centers, but also to resolve issues such as overcrowding in most of the country’s prisons.
At the same time, the plenary session of the body approved a resolution by which the competences of the judges specialized in Penitentiary Guarantees are specified, as well as of the Judges of Criminal Guarantees for the issuance and sending of release tickets for persons deprived of liberty.
The content of the document, which reforms resolution 018-2014, would have been coordinated with the members of the Interinstitutional Work Table, formed to address the country’s prison crisis.
The document indicates that the judges specialized in Penitentiary Guarantees, as well as the judges of Criminal Guarantees, “Whose competence is extended (…), based on its territorial competenceThey will be responsible for issuing and sending the release tickets for persons deprived of liberty, who are serving the sentence in (…) a closed, semi-open, open regime; or in the enjoyment and execution of a prison benefit ”.
It also establishes that the release tickets for persons deprived of liberty must be issued and dispatched in a priority, prompt and timely manner by specialized judges or those judges who have the extended competence for knowledge on the subject of prison guarantees. The ballots must be notified to the electronic lockers of the respective detention centers, without prejudice to their physical notification.
The plenary session of the CJ, within the general provisions, established that the School of the Judicial Function train judicial personnel with competence in matters of Penitentiary Guarantees and in Criminal matters. What’s more, “It does not exclude the power and competence of the Judges of Criminal Guarantees who issued a sentence conviction within a criminal process, to grant the corresponding release order. (I)
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