Colombian inmates number 3,500, ranking 3rd in US prisons
A total of 3,489 Colombian convicts, or 1.9 percent of the U.S. jail population, are held in U.S. prisons, a Colombian diplomat said on Friday.

Jaime Buenahora, the Colombian consul in New York, the city which has the highest number of Colombian inmates, said Colombians are the third largest national group in the U.S. prison system, after U.S. citizens and Mexicans.

"Psychologically speaking, U.S. prisons are hard and even repressive," Buenahora said.

"Daily life is hard and the coldness is unbearable: it gets into your bones," said Jorge Vasquez, who has been in a Brooklyn jail for more than a year. He had been confined to a wheelchair all that time due to the abuse he received while in detention.

New York prisons host some 1,675 Colombians, most of whom are charged with drug offenses. Some 93.3 percent of Colombian prisoners are men, with their prison terms ranging from five to 10 years. Their average age is 37 years old.