New legislation handed by leftist President Gustavo Petro would see impoverished or heads of single guardian households doing public service as a substitute of spending time in jail.
(Reuters Archive)
Some 5,000 feminine prisoners in Colombia who’re both impoverished or the heads of single guardian households shall be freed in alternate for neighborhood service, the federal government has stated.
The resolution on Friday, underneath a brand new legislation handed by leftist President Gustavo Petro on International Women’s Day, would profit inmates convicted of minor crimes with jail sentences of not more than eight years, Justice Minister Nestor Osuna stated.
Instead of jail time, they may serve the remainder of their sentences by doing public service, he advised Blu Radio.
Official estimates are that about 5,000 of the nation’s 17,000 feminine prisoners may qualify.
“If they remain imprisoned and the children (remain) without their mother, those children grow up without affection and many, in the future, become criminals,” Petro stated.
“That is the logic of violence and exclusion.”
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Con esta ley que hoy firmo y por la cual voté afirmativamente como senador, se liberan 5.000 presas madres cabeza de familia para cuidar a sus hijos durante 5 dias cada semana. Se mejoran su beneficios jurídicos con el trabajo y entran a la renta ciudadana. https://t.co/ECUU03Edaa
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 9, 2023
Preventive insurance policies
The girls shall be required to work in academic actions, surroundings restoration, public transport or different civil sectors.
They will work, unpaid, between 5 and 20 hours per week.
“For every five hours worked, they will redeem a week of imprisonment,” stated Osuna.
The remainder of the time, the ladies shall be allowed to earn cash for themselves.
The proposal had been earlier than Congress since 2021, rejected by the then-ruling right-wing social gathering and president Ivan Duque.
Petro, who got here to energy final August, is an advocate of preventive insurance policies reasonably than punitive ones because the nation’s prisons are massively overpopulated.
“This is a first step towards a change in prison policy, towards a new way of crime prevention, towards a new understanding of the meaning of punishment,” stated Osuna.
Source: AFP
Source: www.trtworld.com
