Colombia’s president proposes prison ships and mega-jails to fight crime

Laura Gamba

Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella reaffirmed his commitment to an overhaul of Colombia’s penitentiary system Wednesday, pledging to build maximum-security mega-prisons and deploy converted naval vessels as offshore jails to isolate the country’s most dangerous criminal leaders.

Speaking during a ceremony recognizing the country’s new military leadership, De La Espriella emphasized that his administration is actively advancing plans to develop high-security infrastructure to dismantle organized crime networks operating from behind bars.

“My commitment to building maximum-security mega-prisons to incarcerate the country’s most dangerous terrorists remains unchanged,” he declared, noting that the new facilities will be developed “in partnership with the private sector.”

In a move aimed at disrupting extortion and terror operations directed from inside correctional institutions, the administration is preparing to isolate major cartel leaders at sea.

The Ministries of Defense and Justice, alongside the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC), are advancing a project to convert a Colombian Navy vessel into a floating prison.

The strategy mirrors a similar proposal announced in Ecuador by President Daniel Noboa to station prison ships off the Pacific coast. It also builds on a historical precedent in Colombia. In 2007, under former President Alvaro Uribe, prominent criminal leaders including Central Bolivar Bloc warlord Carlos Mario Jimenez, alias “Macaco,” and Norte del Valle Cartel boss Diego Fernando Montoya, alias “Don Diego,” were temporarily held aboard naval ships to enforce absolute isolation.

De La Espriella recently celebrated the high-security transfer of 20 incarcerated gang members from Barranquilla to Bogota.

“I’m coming for all of them,” the president stated. “I put an end to their privileges, their criminal control from behind bars, and the crime operations from which they sought to extort, threaten and sow fear among working people.”

The government’s broader plan aims to reverse a longstanding trend of correctional facilities acting as operational hubs for crime.

De La Espriella issued a direct ultimatum to INPEC Director Col. Daniel Gutierrez, demanding immediate results in retaking control of the nation’s jails and warning that officials who fail to meet strict security objectives will face immediate dismissal.

“It is regrettable that Colombia’s prisons have ceased to be places of incarceration and have instead become dens of crime –universities of crime — from which extortion and threats are carried out, murders are ordered, and terrorist organizations are directed,” De La Espriella said.