Justicia en crisis: cuando el hacinamiento anula los fines de la pena

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze, from a critical and reflective perspective, the purposes of punishment enshrined in the Colombian legal system and their implementation in judicial practice. It examines the legislature’s approach to regulatory matters, contrasting it with the way it responds to the challenges of the Colombian social context. Similarly, the article addresses the prison crisis facing the country, characterized by overcrowding, a lack of rehabilitation programs, and the constitutional failure to guarantee inmates decent conditions. The document incorporates statistical data and legal references that allow the reader to identify the existence of a major problem, as well as to understand the evident dissonance between law and practice, which undermines the legitimacy of our criminal justice system. Moving beyond a purely punitive perspective, the analysis seeks to place special emphasis on the serious challenges Colombia faces in fulfilling the constitutional purposes of punishment, as established within the framework of the social rule of law. It raises the need to reflect on whether the Colombian criminal justice system actually meets these objectives, or whether, on the contrary, we are facing a structural inconsistency that limits its effectiveness and credibility.