, reports .
Prisoners are also reportedly using the excuse of medical appointments to attend political meetings at bars and restaurants outside the prison.
Inmates at the prison told that the visits were “clinically justified,” especially among the elderly.
“The departures are due, in many cases, to extensive treatment, surgery and physical rehabilitation, treatment shelved long ago, which now, given our situation, we can spend time on,” said an inmate.
In May, La Picota authorities reported that it was increasingly difficult to accommodate Colombian Congress members accused of parapolitics, because the prison is running out of space.
Colombia’s prison authority INPEC said that of the prison’s 48 rooms, 43 are occupied by lawmakers being tried for links with paramilitary groups.