27 prisoners transferred in Venezuela amid protests over ‘overcrowding’, says NGO
Humberto Prado, director of the OVP, told EFE that of the 23,000 prisoners in police cells, around 85% are in arrears.
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At least 27 prisoners were transferred from four cells in the Venezuelan state of Lara (west), where in three of them the inmates are on a hunger strike in protest against “overcrowding” and “procedural delays,” reported this Friday the NGO Una Ventana a la Libertad (UVL).
In a press release, the NGO said the prisoners would be transferred to a prison in the state of Carabobo (north), without specifying which one.
The prisoners will continue their hunger strike and maintain their complaint despite the transfers, UVL said, since, according to reports from relatives, the authorities “have not provided detailed attention to all those on strike.”
The protest was started on Monday by 48 inmates from a sub-delegation of the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation Corps (CICPC) in Lara, which was joined two days later by 69 detainees in a second cell and, on Thursday, by another 76 from a third center, according to the NGO Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP).
“Let us remember that the CICPC was created for criminal investigation and its officials were not and are not trained to protect prisoners,” the NGO said.
Humberto Prado, director of the OVP, recently told EFE that the OVP estimates that, of the 23,000 prisoners in police cells, around 85% are in a procedural delay.
The OVP said the prisoners began the strike as an “extreme measure” reflecting “desperation over inhumane prison conditions, as well as putting pressure on the authorities to respond to their demands.”
He also warned of the “serious and progressive health consequences” of a hunger strike, as “it can cause accelerated weight loss, dehydration and deterioration of vital functions.”
The NGO demanded that the Attorney General’s Office and the Ombudsman’s Office address “urgently” the “critical situation,” which the observatory has reported to the Inter-American and Universal Human Rights System, with the aim of “making visible the violations suffered by the inmates and of putting pressure on them to take concrete measures.” EFE
