Institutions of the Executive and the Judicial Branch coordinate proposals for criminal and institutional changes. Guillermo Lasso made the announcement on November 15.
The government ministry confirmed that there is still no date for sending the draft of the legal reforms necessary to overcome the prison crisis that the country is going through and that, in the last violent attacks in the Litoral Penitentiary, has caused a total of 62 people deprived of liberty murdered.
Several institutions of the Executive coordinate with institutions of the Judicial Function and other organizations for the construction of the proposal that will then be delivered to the National Assembly.
The preparation of the document, which would be called Draft Law on Citizen Defense, is in charge of government ministry, with the support of the Office of the Attorney General of the State (PGE) and the Office of the Attorney General of the State (FGE), in coordination with the General Legal Secretariat of the Presidency and other dependencies; in addition to jurists and criminologists linked to academia and the practice of criminal law.
Although, also, the institutions that are part of the Directory of the Technical Agency of the National Social Rehabilitation System, as the Secretariat for Human Rights (SDH)They also coordinate with other entities of the justice axis, such as the Attorney General’s Office, the rest of the reform package in the same line of improving the prison system.
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The government ministry reported that the November 18 held a first meeting to identify the general lines and axes of the reform, that relate to:
- Institutionality of public security and social rehabilitation
- Progressive and legitimate use of force
- Specific reforms to the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code on organized crime
- Intelligence
In addition, on November 19 and 20, dates of the visit of the president of Colombia, Ivan Duque, a Binational Strategic Workshop, with representatives of the National Police, the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute and the Colombian Penitentiary and Prison Services Unit, as well as with the Ministry of Government, the SDH, the PGE, the FGE, the National Police, the Armed Forces (FF . AA.), The Ecuadorian National Comprehensive Attention Service (SNAI) and the Center for Strategic Intelligence (CIES), to share experiences, discuss best security practices, prison situation and criminal policy, current regulations and possible proposals to improve them .
Meanwhile, on September 8, a interinstitutional table between the SDH, the National Court of Justice, the Judicial Council, the FGE, the Public Defender’s Office and the SNAI who works in reforms related to three themes:
- The functions of the technical body (SNAI) and the powers of the Board of the Technical Body of the National Social Rehabilitation System.
- Reforms to the COIP to include institutions that are part of the justice and security axis in the conformation of the Board of the Technical Agency.
- Facilitate the requirements for obtaining prison benefits as regards the semi-open and open regime.
The project to improve the Social Rehabilitation System will include at least four legal reforms
The announcement of the reform project was made by President Guillermo Lasso last Monday, November 15 at night, after the meeting he held with the authorities of other functions of the State for the “National Agreement for the prison crisis.”
There he mentioned reforms corresponding to the authorship by organizational domain, the progressive use of force and the restructuring of public entities related to the National Social Rehabilitation System.
Hours later, the President of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, stated that this institution is awaiting the project announced by the Executive.
Regulation of the progressive use of force for police officers and prison guides exists in the Penal Code since 2019
The security expert Fernando Carrión states that a comprehensive criminal reform is required in the sense that “all roads do not lead to jail”, since the problem of overcrowding is largely due to the COIP, and it is necessary that preventive detention is not abused and that many criminal types are solved with pecuniary sanctions or community work; the same with respect to the sum of penalties, says Carrión.
Regarding the institutional situation, Carrión considers that there should be two ministries: one of the Government, dedicated exclusively to politics, and another ministry that is dedicated exclusively to security, which includes the Police and the prisons, managed by a vice ministry and disappearing the SNAI.
“Putting more sanctions on the leaders of these criminal groups is not going to have any effect, because in this type of criminal act what is defined as ‘rational selection of the action based on the cost it may have does not operate.’ In addition, most of them are imprisoned and what happens is two things: an increase in the sentence will be two, ten more years, which for them does not matter exactly the same; and the other thing is that, if they get out of jail, their life is in great danger, “says Carrión.
Meanwhile, the President of the Commission for Justice and State Structure, Alejandro Jaramillo (ID), insists that no further reforms or laws are required, but rather training of prison guides so that they can better carry out their work, expansion of infrastructure and technology in prisons.
“There are too many rules. The country and citizens do not require more laws, they need actions by the Executive (…). We must improve the prison system, and that is not done with regulations, with a budget, with some actions by the Executive ”, he says.
Jaramillo does not rule out conducting political control and oversight of the Judicial Council, because “there is a lot of corruption in the judicial system,” in order for judges and prosecutors to adequately apply existing norms.
Nor is it ruled out to install “tables of justice” with representatives of all public institutions related to the issue. (I)
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