Extradited leaders of Colombian paramilitary organization AUC pose a
threat to the security of the Washington prison where they are kept,
local officials told newspaper The Washington Times.
According to the officials, the prisoners kept in the D.C. jail pose a threat to peace within the facility and are more likely to escape into the nearby residential areas, because of the large, international and wealthy drug organizations behind them.
According to the paper, D.C. officials now demand additional federal funds to make sure risks are kept low and that the Colombians are kept away from domestic criminals and are separated from each other. The Colombian guerrilla and paramilitary heads “could easily use their skills and resources to coordinate unrest, violence or escape,” Devon Brown, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, told the daily.
D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles confirmed to the paper that officials are
concerned about possible dangers connected with housing the Colombian
prisoners.
“I think it’s the question of dealing with folks who are connected to a
larger organization, which has money and has abilities to bring to bear
at the institution activities that would pose security problems,” Mr.
Nickles said. “What started as a trickle has suddenly in the last few
months become large enough that we’ve noticed it,” Nickles said.
Defense attorney Joanne D. Slaight, representing one of the Colombians, told the paper the concerns are exaggerated and said the Colombians are “model inmates.”
The D.C. prison houses former AUC heads Salvatore Mancuso, Rodrigo Tuvar Pupo and Juan Carlos Sierra Ramirez.
