RESOCIALIZATION AS END OF SENTENCE – A frustration with the Colombian penitentiary and prison system

This article analyses resocialization as the main finality of deterrent sentencing in Colombia during its execution phase. To this end, the article contextualizes the difficult situation that the penitentiary and prison systems of Colombia withstand, which, as the Constitutional Court declared, constitutes an institutional situation that compromises the human dignity of deterred persons. Within this reality – comprising a significant prison overcrowding, which, in its turn, fosters an environment of violence, corruption and inequality –, offers and access to resocialization programs are scarce, impeding the rehabilitation of individuals. This context hinders the fulfilling of this finality, for it is observed that a great percentage of released felons returns to prison, configuring the phenomenon of recidivism.