A team from the Valle del Cauca Regional Office of the Ombudsman once again visited the San Nicolás Transitory Isolation Center (CAT) in downtown Cali, where they found places that are putting inmates’ health at risk, leaving them more vulnerable to viral infections. There is a danger of Respiratory and infectious diseases.
Of those who have been deprived of liberty, 15 of them are currently suffering from serious illnesses and four, due to their urgency, had to be transferred to city hospitals.
CAT has a capacity of 130 inmates and holds 483 as on date, an overcrowding of over 260%.
Despite the many calls made by the regional since last year, another finding concerns the delivery and preparation of food.
As the guarantor of human rights, the Office of the Ombudsman asked the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) to transfer those with convictions as soon as possible. Likewise, he called upon the competent institutions to guarantee optimum nutrition to the accused and to immediately launch a comprehensive health care brigade.
It is clear that because of their status as persons deprived of liberty they do not lose their rights, as a result, the public servants of the Valle del Cauca Regional will continue to make inspection and monitoring visits to the CAT of San Nicolás, from where 40 prisoners have recently been released. Only 13 of them fled, 13 of whom were recaptured by the Cali Metropolitan Police.
