In the Colombian legal system, the effectiveness of resocialization processes, the reduction of recidivism and adequate reintegration into the community are fundamental pillars that determine the success or failure of the prison and penitentiary system. For this reason, the real application of these goals has a positive impact on the lives of persons deprived of liberty and their families. It has a direct relationship with the improvement of citizen security, in the reduction of the detained population and, as a consequence, the reduction of public resources demanded by a person in confinement.
Resocialization, the reduction of recidivism and the adequate reintegration into the community of people leaving prison have not been priority objectives for the Colombian criminal justice system, characterized by a low rate of coverage and completion of prison treatment programs, a sustained increase in the rate of recidivism and, in general terms, a failure of resocialization as an opportunity to acquire social, labour and educational skills that allow them to return to life in freedom and understand that there can be a life without crime. This session will explain the reality of the Colombian penitentiary and prison system; its situation to ensure the rights of persons deprived of liberty, especially regarding re-socialization and non-recidivism.
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Jorge Enrique Ibáñez Najar
Constitutional Court Magistrate , Special Chamber for Monitoring the State of Unconstitutional Prison and Jail Conditions
Jorge Enrique Ibanez Najar has served as a Constitutional Court Magistrate and the president of the Special Chamber for Monitoring the State of Unconstitutional Prison and Jail Conditions since 2020. He is the president of the Judicial Branch’s National Gender Commission. He has served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank and as a special Ambassador of Colombia before the Inter-American Human Rights System (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights). Prior to joining the Constitutional Court, he held several positions in the judicial branch including as a Cundinamarca Administrative Court judge.
