Colombia to free breadwinner female prisoners

BOGOTA: Some 5,000 female prisoners in Colombia who are either impoverished or the heads of single parent households will be freed in exchange for community service, the government said on Friday.

The move, under a new law passed by leftist President Gustavo Petro on International Women´s Day, would benefit inmates convicted of minor crimes with prison sentences of no more than eight years, justice minister Nestor Osuna said.

Instead of prison time, they will serve the rest of their sentences by doing public service, he told Blu Radio. Official estimates are that about 5,000 of the country´s 17,000 female prisoners could qualify.

“If they remain imprisoned and the children (remain) without their mother, those children grow up without affection and many, in the future, become criminals,” Petro said.