The war against: drug policy and penitentiary overcrowding in Colombia between 1998-2015
Name: ELSA CAROLINA GIRALDO OREJUELA
Publication date: 30/10/2017
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| MARIA LUCIA TEIXEIRA GARCIA | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: We analyzed the correlation among the current national drug policy and the evolution of overcrowding prison population in Colombia between 1998 and 2015, aiming to show the roll of the so called "war on drugs" on increasing prison population. The hegemonic conduct of the United States in this field has been intensifying the mentioned phenomena, which deepens after the signature of the Plan Colombia. For that matter, we have proceeded on contextualizing the developing of the State of Colombia over the last thirty years, intending the show its operation towards social protection. This evidences its effective accomplishment of neoliberal policies, for which the objectives are granting capital reproduction, worsening wide social protection. We have used a documental research, resorting to a qualitative analysis of documents such as the Plan Colombia, the international normative adopted by colombian government regarding drugs and the current national criminal policy on drugs, represented by the National Statue of Narcotics (Bill 30 of the year 1986), and the second chapter of the Title XIII of the Criminal Code (Bill 500 of the year 2000). Next, we resorted the quantitative analysis of official data obtained with the National Penitentiary and Carcerary Institute of Colombia regarding imprisoned people, the general population of arrested due to drug and narcotics related crimes. Once those analysis are made, we managed to conclude a strong correlation, which intensifies with time, between drug related criminal policies and overcrowding imprisoned population. Evidence of this is the increase of 90.135,71% of imprisoned population due to drug related charges from 1998 to 2015. The above stated had led us to conclude that the greater part of victims of this phenomena are people in social vulnerability in Colombia, once it is known that, in 2015, 12.192 of 12.633 incarcerated due to drug trafficking charges had not even concluded primary or secondary education.
Key word: Neoliberal state, Drug policy, Penitentiary and prison overcrowding.
