File photo. The Palacio de Justicia facade on Plaza de Bolívar, Bogotá, Colombia, 2010. Photo: I.D. R.J., CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.

COLOMBIA · PRISONS

Colombia’s justice minister told the country’s top rights court on Wednesday 4 November that the state may use idle assets to pay for new mega-prisons. Court figures from 24 August show short-term holding cells holding nearly twice as many people as they were built for.

Justice Minister Iván Cancino gave no amounts and no list of properties. He said President Abelardo de la Espriella will present the announcements on the mega-prisons very soon.

What the Minister Told the Court

Cancino spoke at a follow-up hearing held by the Constitutional Court in Bogotá. The court has repeatedly declared the conditions of Colombia’s prison system unconstitutional and keeps checking what the state does about it.

Cancino said the government is looking for ways to finance mega-prisons, including by using state assets that sit idle. An inventory of those assets has started, he said, together with the Finance Ministry.

He said the president will present the announcements on the promised mega-prisons very soon. He also said the government wants to finish prisons that earlier administrations left unfinished.

File photo. The Palacio de Justicia on Plaza de Bolívar, Bogotá, where the Constitutional Court sits, 2011. Photo: Baiji, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

How Bad the Overcrowding Is

Colombia’s short-term holding cells, mostly in police stations and immediate-reaction units, held 18,824 people in 9,686 places on 24 August. That is an overcrowding rate of 94.34%, and 18,150 of those held had not been convicted.

Magistrate Jorge Enrique Ibáñez presented the figures to the hearing. He called the situation a humanitarian tragedy.

In Plain English, Who Is Who

Iván Cancino is Colombia’s justice minister under President Abelardo de la Espriella. The Constitutional Court is the country’s top court on constitutional rights, and it supervises how the state fixes the prison system.

Mega-prisons are large high-security prisons the president promised, mainly for high-risk inmates. The government has spoken of ten of them, away from city centres.

A derecho de superficie, or surface right, lets the state give a private party the right to build or run projects on state land. The state keeps ownership, and Cancino said the government is studying the tool.

What Else Is Planned

Cancino said the government will finish prisons left unfinished by earlier administrations. He said a prison in Riohacha will be handed over before the end of November.

Separately, the justice ministry is studying a pilot to hold top criminals on ships in Colombian waters, Cancino said in September. He said then that the plan was still in study and technical design.

In September, Cancino told lawmakers the ministry is planning ten new mega-prisons, and he has said the government is studying public-private partnerships to fund them. As of mid-September the government had not published sites or schedules.

What It Means for You

For US readers, the prison crisis matters because Colombia is betting on new high-security prisons to fight organized crime. Cancino told the court he will not allow corruption or special privileges inside prisons.

Investors in infrastructure and public-private projects should watch whether the asset deals and partnerships become tenders. No amounts have been named, so any contract is still a long way off.

What Is Not Known

The cost, sites and timetable for the mega-prisons have not been published. The presidency can say, and Cancino said it will do so very soon.

Which state properties would be used is open. The Finance Ministry can say when its inventory with the justice ministry is done, and no date has been given.

More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Colombia’s justice minister say about mega-prisons?

Iván Cancino said the government is seeking financing, including the use of idle state assets, and that the president will announce the plan very soon. He gave no amounts.

How overcrowded are Colombia’s holding cells?

Short-term holding cells held 18,824 people in 9,686 places on 24 August, an overcrowding rate of 94.34%. Most of those held had not been convicted.

Will Colombia use prison ships?

The justice ministry is studying a pilot to hold top criminals on ships in Colombian waters. Minister Cancino said in September that the plan was still in study and design.

Why is the Constitutional Court involved?

The court has repeatedly declared prison conditions unconstitutional and monitors the state’s response. The 4 November hearing was a follow-up on that supervision.

Sources: Constitutional Court of Colombia, follow-up hearing on the prison system, statements by Justice Minister Iván Cancino and Magistrate Jorge Enrique Ibáñez, 4 November 2026; Ministry of Justice and Law, statements on prison ships, 23 September 2026, as reported by Colombian news media.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief