A recent Colombian law lets some women walk free from prison – but resuming life is not easy

The law allows female heads of households to serve their sentences outside of prison, in exchange for unpaid community service. But the courses Cortes took in prison did not teach her how to face stigma: “If I have a criminal record, how do I find a job?” she says.

“My God, you also handed my son freedom,” said Patricia Cortes when she left El Buen Pastor prison on September 17, 2024. She had hoped to be able to guarantee her son’s food and health upon leaving prison. However, after six months of freedom, although she appreciates being a beneficiary of Colombia’s recent Public Utility Law, she points out a flaw: “We leave the prison vulnerable.” The law allows female heads of households to serve their sentences outside of prison in exchange for unpaid community service. It is considered the first criminal policy with a gender focus in Colombia, and a model for Latin America. However, two years after its approval, obstacles still exist for incarcerated women to benefit from the law and reintegrate into society effectively. Cortes, 22, entered El Buen Pastor prison in Bogota on October 31, 2023. She was sentenced to six years and five months in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime, drug trafficking, manufacturing, or possession of narcotics. Her son was born four days later. When she first heard about the Public Utility Law, she had been denied house arrest seven times, she says. She met the three requirements to access the benefit: being a female head of household, having a sentence of less than eight years or for crimes related to theft or narcotics, and having committed it under conditions of marginality. “My mom sold drugs, and I accompanied her. I foolishly got caught; we were accused of being leaders of a gang,” she says. However, she insists she had no intention of harming anyone and that necessity drove them: “We are eight siblings, five are minors. My dad is homeless. My mom worked in the central park of Fusagasuga selling corn, bubbles, ice cream, but what she earned was not enough for the household.”