An inmate of the Bellavista prison in Medellín is requesting euthanasia, because he suffers from an illness and feels that the lack of health care in the prison prevents him from having a quality of life. The petition is supported by his relatives.
This is Sebastián López, 23 years old, who was recently held in the Bellavista prison in Medellín, but due to the serious injuries to his entire body, the tuberculosis that is consuming him and other diseases, they had to admit him to the emergency room at the La María Hospital in the capital of Antioquia.
Hernando López, Sebastián’s father, told SEMANA that the prison system has not made it possible to expedite the prison house process, there are no supplies for care and that is why it has been difficult for the young man to recover, which is practically consuming him the severity of the wounds that have not yet healed.
“They had him in a cell alone, as if to say get in there and die. There is no public entity that wants to pay attention to my son’s case. The prison health system has not been able to cope with the state in which he finds himself. There are not enough inputs for the required attention. He has huge injuries to his back and other parts of his body, he is in a wheelchair, he cannot change on his own,” said the young man’s father.
Through a video on social networks, Sebastián recounted the difficult situation he is experiencing and the reasons why he is asking to be euthanized.
“I am sitting in a wheelchair, I suffer at the time of the colostomy. Here in the prison they don’t let me enter toilet implements. Please help me. No matter what crimes we committed, here in this prison overcrowding is consuming us,” López said.
In addition, his father said that the family prefers to see him die with dignity and not see him live with suffering inside the prison center, and more so because they have not even given him medical attention.
“He is in a very precarious situation. There has not been a way that the exit to the hospital has not been possible. Our despair is inhumane,” López added.
In this regard, Jorge Carmona, human rights defender of the prison population in Antioquia, assured that they are investigating the case to help the young person. As they explained, the family’s request has not been possible, because this illness is not considered terminal and makes it difficult to carry out said request.
According to Carmona, there are two major problems in the country’s prisons. First, the food, which has generated serious riots and protests due to the terrible conditions in which the inmates are delivered. Second, health, where the inmates have orders for care imprisoned or, in many cases, never receive it.
Sebastián’s situation is added to thousands of people deprived of liberty who suffer the ordeal of illnesses, some more serious than others, but with something in common: the care deficiencies for this population live in most of the country’s prisons under overcrowding and the precarious conditions of these spaces.
During the last visits of the Personería de Medellín to the prisons of the city, specifically in El Pedregal, the entity was able to demonstrate the reality of overcrowding that exists within the place with regard to the structure of men.
In one of the patios, the real shelter capacity is 360 people. However, they found an overpopulation of 140%. In addition, they received alerts about structural failures and insufficient medical personnel.
It should be remembered that on August 24, 2022, a 21-year-old man died in a hospital in Valle de Aburrá after being referred from a National Police station in the municipality of Itagüí. Although the defenders of the prison population in Antioquia question the treatment they gave the inmate, the institution defended the procedure.
According to the authorities, Sebastian was caught in flagrante delicto after trying to steal a cell phone and was sentenced to 50 months in prison. But the ordeal of his state of health began a year ago, when he was captured and tried to escape, there he was shot three times by the Police.