(Credit: LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) --
Reducing overcrowding and promoting a "true social rehabilitation" of nearly 40,000 people deprived of liberty are the objectives of the new measures announced by the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, to combat violence and crime within the prisons of the country.
In 2021 alone, there were 340 inmates killed inside prisons, according to the Ministry of Government.
At the Carondelet Palace, Lasso received a document from the Human Rights Secretary, Bernarda Ordoñez, with the new public policy strategy for social rehabilitation.
The plan seeks to improve security and filters within prisons, improve the social rehabilitation model, improve management and reduce overcrowding and excessive use of deprivation of liberty.
President Lasso Pardons Sick Prisoners to Ease Prison Overcrowding in Ecuador
"We are surprised that the Police capture people with 10, 15 and even 20 previous arrests. They enter and leave without having the opportunity to change their behavior (...) We are going to humanize the prisons," Lasso said.
The president also signed a decree to reduce prison overcrowding and that will allow all prisoners who meet certain parameters and types of crimes to be pardoned.
This benefit reaches prisoners who have been sentenced for robbery, theft, fraud and breach of trust, and who have served 40% of the sentence imposed by the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, and 60% of the sentence for cases of sentences under the Organic Penal Code.
They should not have other sentences or precautionary measures, nor other investigation processes or precautionary measures.
"We are bringing order and control to the so-called rehabilitation centers. We must go further, provide permanent solutions with authentic and comprehensive rehabilitation. They are human beings who made mistakes and are paying their debt to society. The task is complex, but not impossible," Lasso concluded.
advertising
Jan Jarab, representative for South America of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who participated in the construction of the strategy for the prison system, said that "a long-term political commitment" is required in this effort to improve the penitentiary system and that now the challenges should focus on the "implementation" of what was resolved in the document.
He was in favor of the application of a presidential pardon to reduce the serious problem of overcrowding.
PrisonsGuillermo Lasso