BOGOTA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- An attempted prison break in Colombia's capital Bogota left 23 inmates dead and 83 others injured, of whom 32 are hospitalized, Justice Minister Margarita Cabello said on Sunday.
"Today is a very painful day for the country. I have to report that last night there was a massive and criminal attempt to escape from the La Modelo penitentiary," said Cabello.
Seven prison guards and officials belonging to the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) were also injured, two of them critically, said Cabello.
Also on Saturday night, riots occurred in several other prisons in Colombia as part of a large-scale scheme to break out of jail, said the minister.
"There were no escapes ... there was a criminal plan to escape that was thwarted," she said.
Cabello denied that the hygienic conditions in the prisons raised the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, and dismissed this as a concern for the inmates and the motive behind the riots.
"There also are no sanitary problems that could have led to the plan or the riots. Today, there is not even a single case of infection, not an inmate, administrator or guard who has the coronavirus or who could be quarantined due to the coronavirus," said the minister.
