\n<\/p>\n
The baby calls out, reaching towards a metal detector security gate. \u201cMama, mama,\u201d she says. A prison officer waves her through. It\u2019s visiting time at El Buen Pastor prison, Colombia\u2019s largest detention centre for women. Behind the black door, half a dozen women wait anxiously. Dressed in her best clothes, the mother folds herself around the child.<\/p>\n
Inside, the prison is crumbling. Black mould creeps up the walls; broken windows have been replaced with plastic sheets. Inmates say five to six people share cells built for two.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is terrible here,\u201d says inmate Daniela Martinez. \u201cThe conditions are horrible. Once you enter, you lose hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colombia\u2019s female prison population has increased more than fivefold<\/a> since 1991, largely driven by drug laws that disproportionately punish women<\/a>. More than a third are imprisoned for drug-related crimes; many are minor players in the trafficking chain.<\/p>\n The nation \u2013 which produces most of the world\u2019s cocaine<\/a> \u2013 has long been plagued by the drug trade, which has fuelled organised crime and conflict and continues to flourish.<\/p>\n Now Colombia\u2019s president, Gustavo Petro, is attempting a new approach \u2013 pivoting from punishment to rehabilitation.<\/p>\n \u201cColombia has been the best student of the global drug regime, and done pretty much everything we were told to do for decades,\u201d says Laura Gil, Colombia\u2019s ambassador-at-large for global drug policy. \u201cYet today, we have record production, record consumption and record narco trafficking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to put people at the forefront instead of prisons at the forefront,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n A key reform is the Public Utility law, introduced in March 2023, to allow incarcerated women who are heads of their household and serving sentences under eight years to complete community service instead<\/a>. It is granted primarily to women convicted of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n At El Buen Pastor prison, Colombia\u2019s minister of justice \u00c1ngela Mar\u00eda Buitrago Ruiz says a significant portion of female inmates are poor and from rural areas \u2013 where they are vulnerable to the cartels. \u201cMany of the women here have suffered from marginality. Although in many cases they have trafficked drugs, in many cases they also did not know what they were smuggling,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to change the system. We need to protect women.\u201d<\/p>\n Inmate Martinez was sentenced to five years and four months after 10 kilos of marijuana was found in her home. \u201cI was tricked. I was asked to keep hold of it for someone, and then two hours later the police came,\u201d she says. \u201cI was a mule.\u201d<\/p>\n People think and say that prison is where people are rehabilitated and educated, but it is all lies<\/p>\n Patricia Cortes, prisoner<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n Patricia Cortes, 23, is one of those who released under the scheme. She was freed on 17 September 2024, 11 months after she was first incarcerated for conspiracy to commit a crime, drug trafficking, manufacturing, or possession of narcotics.<\/p>\n Cortes says that she had been photographed alongside her mother, who had started selling narcotics to escape poverty. \u201cHer motivation was our household needs: she had eight children, five of whom were minors, and my father had left,\u201d she says. \u201cShe needed the money.\u201d<\/p>\n Cortes says women bear the brunt of Colombia\u2019s drug crisis, with many coerced.<\/p>\n In the prison chapel, the justice minister plays a video of an inmate leaving El Buen Pastor under the scheme. \u201cPlease help us and give us women who are heads of household a second chance,\u201d she says; the inmates watching cheer in response.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think and say that prison is where people are rehabilitated and educated, but it is all lies. In prison, everything is denied,\u201d says Cortes, who gave birth to her son in jail. \u201cMany people leave prison worse than when they entered.\u201d<\/p>\n Only 143 women have been released so far \u2013 99 of whom were charged with drug offences \u2013 despite the availability of more than 2,600 community service spaces. The justice ministry blames \u201cconservative judges\u201d for stalling progress, while civil society leaders say the definition of \u201cmarginality\u201d has caused difficulties in court.<\/p>\n Related: <\/span>Biased laws and poverty driving huge rise in female prisoners \u2013 report<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have high hopes for being released,\u201d says Martinez. \u201cWe are more useful outside than inside; here all we do is waste time. But we have seen how many of the requests have been denied.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the Public Utility law, Petro launched a 10-year drug policy<\/a> in October that proposes to change the narrative around psychoactive substances, prioritise rural development, reduce coca crops, and help small farmers transition to the legal economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n