Colombia’s prison authorities have suspended the director of the La Picota prison in Bogota, claiming he is incapable of successfully carrying out his duties, local media reported Tuesday.
National Prison Institute director Gustavo Ricaurte declared La Picota director Anselmo Escobar incapable of carrying out his duties. This claim came after a number of scandals in the detention center under Escobar’s watch.
The most recent incident occurred last week, when Escobar allegedly illegally granted permission to a group of congressmen to visit an imprisoned colleague for his birthday. The state representatives were there to visit Alvaro Pacheco Alvarez, a congressman arrested in late April over his alleged ties to paramilitary death squads.
The lawmakers visited their colleague outside of regular visiting hours. When the irregularity was discovered, the congressmen were removed from the prison before being able to pay their former colleague a visit.
The La Picota prison — home to dozens of congressmen implicated in the so-called parapolitics prison — has seen a number of prison directors come and go over the past few years following corruption allegations.