Final visit to exchange experiences in Colombia
Last Friday, November 10, the conference for the exchange of experiences on Restorative Justice ended in the city of Medellín, Colombia, with the participation of the Delegations of Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia.
On Thursday, the delegations learned about the Judicial Follow-up Program on Drug Treatment for Adolescents, during a visit to the Charisma Hospital, in charge of providing care to people who participate in this alternative, where they were able to talk with professionals and offenders, who expressed the excellent results achieved with this inter-institutional integration in the City of Medellín, promoted by the Deputy Minister of Restorative Justice and Criminal Policy of Colombia, Mr. Carlos Medina Ramírez.
At the Carlos Lleral Restrepo Youth Assistance Center, a penal center run by the Luis Amigó Capuchins, information was obtained on the pedagogical and therapeutic model with a restorative approach, carried out by inmates as a strategy of social reinsertion, peaceful conflict resolution and construction of life projects in favor of society, as indicated by Priest Carlos Mauricio Agudelo, director of the place.
Always in the axis of sentenced persons, in the Pedregal Penal Center, there was interaction with the inmates of the APAC Program, directed by the Confraternidad Carcelaria de Colombia, who shared the change they have had in their lives despite the sentences for serious crimes such as homicides, extortion and those derived from armed conflicts. All of this thanks to the vision that "prison is the place where crime is not," as referred to by D.L.V.G., an inmate who spoke about Restorative Justice.
With the participation of Mr. Mario Alberto Montaño Delgado from Mexico and Mrs. Adriana Ramírez Cover from Costa Rica, in the Restorative Justice Conversation, judges from Colombia were made aware of the practices that are carried out in their countries and can be replicated in Colombia.
During the conclusions, the importance of the project was reflected, which allowed the Magistrates of the Superior Council of Colombia to visit judicial instances, penal centers and community programs that develop restorative practices linked to the solution of penal and juvenile penal juridical conflicts, as well as to count on the support of the Judicial Branch in Colombia for the success of the future actions of the project.
This meeting took place from November 6 to 10, 2017, and was made possible thanks to funding provided by the European Union to the Regional Project Strengthening Restorative Justice, which is coordinated by the Judicial Branch of Costa Rica.
