Consideraciones sobre la inviabilidad de la prisión perpetua en Colombia

This text provides constitutional, legal, social, and fiscal elements that simply explain the unfeasibility and regressiveness of life imprisonment in Colombia, so that the debate is enriched with objective elements different from those of populist speeches, which prioritize punitive and security approaches over the principles of the social rule of law.  To this end, firstly, the text reviews the problems of legislative initiatives that have attempted to establish life imprisonment in Colombia. It explains the scant relationship between the social problem intended to be solved and life imprisonment as a solution. These initiatives have been based on the lack of empirical evidence justifying the lifting of this prohibition established since the Political Constitution, which leads to strengthening a reactive criminal policy with a precarious approach to social crime prevention, contrary to the global trend, which is oriented towards punitive mitigation. Secondly, it analyzes why lifting the prohibition on life imprisonment implies a replacement of the Political Constitution and the aspects that define its identity, such as the principles of human dignity, freedom, equality, and protection. Based on arguments like exceptionality, reviewability, and non-automaticity of the measure, it warns how these end up undermining the founding principles of the Magna Carta. Thirdly, this text seeks to illustrate how the imposition of life imprisonment goes against principles of modern criminal law, such as the principle of strict legality of the penalty, proportionality, culpability, and resocialization of the penalty. 
What follows is an analysis of the perpetuation of the unconstitutional state of affairs in prison matters and the increase in budgetary pressure, which ends up affirming, on one hand, the State's inability to fulfill the purpose of punishment, resocialization, and, on the other, its inability to prevent crime. 

CONTENIDO 
AGRADECIMIENTOS 
PRESENTACIÓN INTRODUCCIÓN 
I. Problemáticas de las iniciativas legislativas que han pretendido instaurar la pena de prisión perpetua en Colombia A. No hay relación entre el problema social que se pretende resolver y la prisión perpetua como solución B. No hay evidencia empírica que justifique una medida tan lesiva como la prisión perpetua C. Las iniciativas de cadena perpetua son expresión de una política criminal reactiva y no de prevención social del delito D. Reiteración de una iniciativa históricamente derrotada E. La prisión perpetua es una medida regresiva que va en contra de la tendencia mundial hacia la atenuación punitiva 
II. Levantar la prohibición de prisión perpetua implica una sustitución de la Constitución A. Dignidad humana B. Libertad C. Igualdad D. Protección E. Imprescriptibilidad de las penas  
III. Incompatibilidad de la propuesta con algunos de los principios del derecho penal moderno A. Principio de la legalidad estricta de la pena B. Proporcionalidad C. Culpabilidad D. Resocialización de la pena 
IV. Perpetuación del estado de cosas inconstitucional carcelario 
V. Insostenibilidad fiscal 
CONCLUSIONES 
BIBLIOGRAFÍA