Your relative should not be in prison awaiting trial: what many families do not know
When someone close is detained, the first reaction is usually paralysing: distress, confusion, and the sense that there is nothing to do but wait. That feeling, understandable as it is, can be the most costly mistake the family makes at that moment.
In Colombia, preventive detention is not a conviction. It is a precautionary measure: deprivation of liberty before trial, before criminal responsibility has been determined. It is subject to specific statutory conditions —risk of flight, danger to the community, possible obstruction of justice— which, where they are not met or where circumstances change, can be challenged. The measure that looks final frequently is not, but the procedural windows for challenging it do not wait.
If a member of your family is deprived of liberty —in preventive detention or serving a sentence— active and early representation determines which options remain open and which no longer are.
Two situations, one specialist representation
The legal position of a person deprived of liberty varies fundamentally according to their procedural status. The legal strategy has to answer that difference:
Preventive detention: The person is in prison while the criminal proceeding runs. They have not been convicted. The detention measure has specific statutory conditions (art. 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code) which must be verified case by case. It can be challenged before the judge of control of guarantees, modified if circumstances change, or substituted by a less burdensome measure such as house arrest. Here urgency is at its highest: every week that passes is time in custody for someone who may be entitled to be at home.
Serving a sentence: The person has been convicted and is serving their sentence. The legal work turns to alternatives to imprisonment (parole, house arrest, conditional suspension), prison administrative benefits, and active protection of the person’s rights during custody.
Alternatives to imprisonment: the way home many families do not know about
One of the commonest beliefs among families of convicted persons is that the only way out is to wait until the whole sentence is served. It is not so. The Colombian criminal system provides concrete mechanisms allowing a sentence to be served outside prison —or its effective duration to be reduced:
- Parole: For those who have served part of the sentence, can show good conduct certified by INPEC, and do not represent a danger to society. The requirements are specific and vary with the offence and the sentence.
- House arrest: Serving the sentence at the place of residence under supervision. Whether it lies depends on the type of offence, the length of the sentence and the personal circumstances of the convicted person.
- Conditional suspension of the execution of the sentence: Applicable in certain cases, it allows execution to be suspended under specific supervision conditions.
- Prison administrative benefits: 72-hour release permits, work outside the walls, sentence reduction for study or work inside the establishment, transfer to a facility closer to the family.
Assessing eligibility for each of these mechanisms requires reviewing the file, the sentence imposed, the type of offence and the inmate’s conduct record. It is specialist legal work that determines whether —and when— there is a real option of return.
Specialist representation for persons deprived of liberty
- Review of the lawfulness and continuing validity of the detention measure imposed
- Applications for substitution or revocation of preventive detention before the judge of control of guarantees
- Eligibility analysis and handling of alternatives to imprisonment: conditional suspension, parole, house arrest
- Handling of prison administrative benefits: release permits, work outside the walls, sentence reductions
- Constitutional injunctions for infringement of fundamental rights in custody: health, dignity, visits, arbitrary incommunicado detention
- Monitoring of conditions of custody and complaints to INPEC and oversight bodies where appropriate
- Continuous representation while the sentence is served: appeals, incidental applications and benefits
Why acting now matters more than it seems
In deprivation of liberty, time is not neutral: it works against the person in prison and against their family. The windows to challenge a detention measure have deadlines. Appeals expire. Eligibility for alternatives to imprisonment is triggered —and lost— at specific moments while the sentence is served. Evidence that could support an application for substitution can lose its force as time passes.
Every week without active representation is a week that narrows the available options. Not because the system is irreversible —in many cases it is not— but because every legal mechanism has its moment and its procedural window. Identifying which one fits the specific situation and acting at the right moment is the work the firm does from the first analysis of the case.
Why rely on this firm to defend your relative
Juan Antonio Matiz is a criminal lawyer with an active professional licence, practising criminal law exclusively. The firm works only on criminal cases, which means every application —for substitution of a measure, for an alternative to imprisonment, for an administrative benefit, for an injunction over rights in custody— is designed with a deep knowledge of the Colombian criminal system and of actual practice before guarantees judges, sentence enforcement judges and prosecutors in Bogotá.
Representation in deprivation of liberty demands technical rigour and speed of response at the same time. These are not contradictory parameters: they are the two requirements of the service.
Frequently asked questions
What people usually ask us
What can a lawyer do if my relative has already been convicted?
More than most people think. Once convicted, eligibility for alternatives to imprisonment (parole, house arrest, conditional suspension of the sentence) can be analysed depending on the offence, the sentence and conduct while serving. Prison administrative benefits can also be pursued —release permits, work outside the walls, sentence reduction for productive activities— and injunctions can be brought if fundamental rights are infringed in custody. The legal work does not end with the judgment.
What is the detention measure and can it be challenged?
The detention measure is the judicial decision depriving a person of liberty while the proceeding runs (preventive detention). To impose it, the specific statutory conditions in article 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code must be met: a reasonable inference of authorship, necessity of the measure (danger to the community, obstruction of justice or risk of non-appearance) and proportionality. If any of these conditions is not met or changes, the measure can be challenged or modified before the judge of control of guarantees.
What is parole and who can obtain it?
Parole allows a convicted person to leave the establishment before completing their sentence, under supervision. The general requirements include: having served part of the sentence (the proportion varies with the offence), showing good conduct certified by INPEC, and the sentence enforcement judge being satisfied that there is no danger to society. Not every offence is eligible and not every convicted person qualifies. Analysis of the file is indispensable to determine whether it lies and when.
What does house arrest involve?
House arrest allows a custodial sentence to be served at the place of residence, under supervision. It can apply as a substitute detention measure (in place of detention in prison) or as a form of execution of the sentence for convicted persons who meet the statutory requirements. Whether it lies depends on the type of offence, the length of the sentence and the personal circumstances of the accused or convicted person.
Can a detainee receive proper medical care? What if it is refused?
Persons deprived of liberty retain their fundamental right to health. INPEC has an obligation to guarantee medical care in its establishments. If care is refused or unjustifiably delayed, the most effective and fastest mechanism is the constitutional injunction, which can order the service to be provided within strict deadlines. Complaints can also be made to the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría).
How does sentence reduction for study or work in prison operate?
The Penitentiary and Prison Code (Law 65 of 1993 and its amendments) allows sentence redemption for work, study and teaching inside the establishment. For every two days of certified productive activity, one day of sentence is redeemed. These activities must be certified by INPEC. The exact calculation depends on the activities carried out and on the type of offence, since some carry specific restrictions. The firm can review the certificates and determine their impact on the eligibility date for alternatives to imprisonment.
Can a transfer to an establishment closer to the family be requested?
Yes. Transfer is a right of the inmate that can be pursued where there are valid reasons: proximity to the family, health conditions, or security. The application is made to INPEC and can be supported legally if it is unjustifiably refused. Constitutional case law recognises family proximity as a relevant factor for resocialisation, which supports these applications where there is significant geographical distance between the establishment and the family home.