John Jairo Velasquez, the top hit man for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 80s, has been released from prison after 22 years. Velasquez says he is responsible for murdering 300 people, while masterminding the hits of over 3000 others. Velasquez had some high-profile targets, including a presidential candidate. He says that he has turned to God, and asked for forgiveness from all of his victims' families. In 1989, Velasquez killed Luis Carlos Galan who was running for president at the time. Galan's son, now a senator, has said he forgives the hit man. Some, are not happy about his release, saying 22 years is not enough. Velasquez said he fears for his life, since he gave up information about the cartel to authorities.
Because he has kidnapped and killed so many people, he definitely should be spending life in prison. The article had stated that Velasquez had admitted to police that he had killed 300 people and had masterminded the killings of 3,000 people. Those statistics are insane.
However, Velasquez was under the control of the drug lord, Pablo Escobar. Being a hit-man, he doesn't go and kill or harm people randomly. He was told who he needs to kill. And since he did confess, and include names, the cartel he was with won't be very happy.
I think it is important to keep in mind that if he stays in prison for the rest of his life, he will die after many years most likely. If he continues to be released he will probably eventually be murdered for betraying the Medellin cartel, or beat to death by people who don't support his release. The police can't protect Velasquez forever.
-- Edited by Amber Kennedy on Friday 19th of September 2014 05:24:17 PM
I think that any person that is cappable of killing another human being should be punished severly because they are taking another person's life away. This man killed 300 people and I believe he should be put away for life in prison because he commited such horrible crimes. Reguardless if he has claimed to have found God, he doesn't deserve to be let out.
Murder is a crime. he may have changed and be a better person. he may have "found God" but that does not change what he has done in the past. that does not bring the people killed back to life. he should not have been released.
I don't think he should be released into the public. If he were willing to kill people 22 years ago nothing is stopping him from killing people now. Plus, there is no way of ever actually knowing if he truly has turned to god, or if that will affect him. People can claim anything, but whether or not we believe them is up to us. I do not believe that he deserves to live in society if he was ever mentally capable of killing 300 innocent people. Normal people feel some sort of remorse for even hurting another person, let alone killing another person.
I do not believe someone with his reputation should be released. Someone capable of master-minding as many as 3,000 deaths should, in my opinion, pay an ultimate price. There comes a certain point of no return when you have that much blood on your hands. Is it even safe after 22 years to release him? Keep in mind he was in prison. He was locked up, denied the finer pleasures in life, and most likely not treated very well. How do you think someone like that, capable of killing 300 civillians himself, is going to act after being locked up for so long?
I do see a bright side to this. He is a target of cartels due to his actions in jail. He released information to officials. My hope is that the government is rleasing him more as further punishment. It sounds bad, bad in a way don't they hope he is killed by an enemy cartel? Just my thought on this.
I believe that keeping this man in prison for the rest of his life is an over use of government power. He served his full sentence. Columbia has no right to put him back in prison. I'd also like to bring up that the attitude people have when it comes to prison kind of worries me. People seem to love having thoughtless revenge on criminals. We never want to discuss the root cause of crime or how to prevent it. People are way to complacent with just locking them in and throwing away the key. You see that in America with things like the death penalty (Or as I like to call it "Government sanctioned revenge killing"). In most European countries prisons aren't a place where criminals go to be punished. They go there to be rehabilitated to the point where they can function in a society as a law abiding citizen. More importantly these European systems work better. The prison population and recidivism rates in these countries are lower then that of United States and a lot of new world countries. People also ignore the root causes of crime especially in the US. Poverty or mental illness are almost always the root cause of crime yet in the US at least there are no real policies that help people get past those things. No one seems to want to to do any thing to help poorer communities in America and likewise most people don't know how to treat mental illness here either. As a society we must move away from ruthlessly punishing criminals and go towards a system that rehabilitates criminals and helps improve the environment that leads to crime.
he only served three fourths of his time, not his full sentence, so keeping him imprisoned would not be an over use of government. he should have never been let free early in the first place. He
The thing is Mary that the state released him legally early and with that release he can't be charged or imprissoned again for his crime. If the state has forgiven him what standing do we have to say that he should still be in jail. I mean hasn't he been punished enough? 22 years is a long time. That's more years then any of use have been alive. If the state has determined that he is safe to be released then what use is it for him to still be behind bars.
In my opinion 22 years are not enough. Many people are sentenced longer to prison for minor crimes, e.g. illegal copying of movies. I think murderer is the worst crime and if you murder so many people, you should be sentenced to life imprisonment.
If their justice system decided to release him, then that is what was decided. My dad used to serve in prison ministries, sharing the gospel and counseling inmates and former convicts. Now my dad and I don't advocate for "prisoners rights" or being too soft on criminals, but we believe that when a man has served his time, he's served his time, whether he was released early or served his full sentence. Often in society, ex-convicts are looked down upon and judged. I understand that many return to a life of crime, and that suspicion is sometimes deserved, but not all of them remain the same. Some actually do undergo a change in heart while serving their time. Its important to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Watch "The Green Mile" starring Tom Hanks, and Les Mis. They both have themes within them that can relate to this subject.
-- Edited by Zachary Francine on Saturday 20th of September 2014 08:53:07 PM
I agree with Jamina in that 22 years is not enough as punishment for his many crimes. Given all the devastation that he had left behind as a hit man, I'm surprised that he got a relatively light sentence of what i thought he would get. He shouldn't been released just yet, but i also think that he should be given the benefit of the doubt if he has shown genuine good behavior in prison. Turning to god i believe warrants caution, but he has shown some good by giving up information about cartels to authorities.
I understand that they released him early, and i do not think they should put him back in jail. I just do not think they should have let him out in the first place.
he should have never been released. and yes he should be put back in. No man even responsible for one death should be released. but for 300? This hit man should be in jail the rest of his life.
He was given his punishment, 22 years ago, we can't change our mind and just give him more time, he's been released and he should stay that way. Prison should be about rehabilitation, how to become a functioning member of society instead of being about punishment.
He should have no been released, how do we know that he wont start masterminding all over again and being reasonable for even more deaths. He should be locked away forever.
I do not think religion is an alternative to a quicker release. I also think that this man could be too senile to do anything other than get around his house and feed himself. If he is released, he should be supervised as for this man fears for his life because he gave the police information about the cartel. Some kind of home would be a great place for this person. I don't think he'll survive in prison as long as he would in a home.
This is definitely a tricky subject. One one hand, he has killed (or orchestrated the deaths of) over 3,000 people, and only got convicted for one, so he is obviously very intelligent. So, it is easily plausible that Velasquez may be lying because he has the intelligence to plan ahead and get out of prison in the event he would get caught. Especially since he went in thinking, "I haven't done anything wrong." But on the other hand, if he is telling the truth, he may deserve another chance. Because if he has truly turned to God, he wouldn't ever do anything like that again because the guilt would eat him alive. However, its very difficult to determine that because of his past atrocities. This is a very difficult choice but all in all, I think he should be given another chance at life, however, it should be under the supervision of armed guards and he should be monitored wherever he goes. This way he cannot revert into his old ways. This is a very difficult question, and it is really about should be believe in the goodness of human nature, or not?
