Colombia’s prison authority INPEC is investigating the director of Picota prison in Bogota, who allegedly allowed a jailed politician to double the size of his cell and paint the walls.
According to INPEC boss Colonel Carlos Barrangan, prison director Enrique Arce withheld information and lied when INPEC asked him about the home-improvements jailed congressman Juan Carlos Martinez had performed in his cell.
The politician, in jail awaiting trial for his alleged ties to a paramilitary group, was assigned two inmate workmen who tore down the wall between the cell of the congressman and a neighboring cell, giving Martinez double the space.
According to the INPEC, the politician also had been verbally abusive to prison guards without being punished.
The INPEC has ordered the prison director to reconstruct the wall.
La Picota prison is Bogota’s largest penitentiary institution and home to dozens of politicians with (alleged) ties to paramilitaries.
