BOGOTA, Colombia
Colombia’s Justice Minister Margarita Cabello declared a state of emergency in the country’s prison system on Monday after riots that left 23 inmates dead and 83 injured in at least 13 prisons took place on Saturday night.
The protests were apparently prompted by fears of a coronavirus outbreak inside overcrowded prisons.
As if it were a planned riot, fires, confrontations and shootings unleashed in different prisons of the prison system in the country where there are 123,000 inmates and 14,000 prison guards.
Cabello confirmed Monday that there are still no cases of the virus in the Colombian prison
Read more: Colombia declares prison emergency after riots kill 23
