Rising death toll in Venezuelan prisons
Since the Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency in the prison service in December 2004, at least 491 inmates have been killed and 761 have been injured, according to the Observatorio de Prisiones, an NGO which campaigns for prison reform.
Humberto Prado, director of the Observatorio, reported on 3 May that 177 inmates had been killed and 244 injured so far this year. In a previous, partial report, the Observatorio had tallied 314 killed and 517 injured in 2005. The killings are mainly attributed to the settling of scores between gangs. Riots and hunger strikes over trial delays and the mass kidnapping of visiting relatives of the inmates are common occurrences in a system where, as Prado puts it, 'the death penalty - banned by law - exists and the state lacks the ability to maintain order'.
Venezuela has 29 prisons housing approximately 20,000 inmates; an average of 6,900 each. In March this year, following a report by a presidential commission set up in late 2004, the government announced the launch of a five-year prison-reform plan in which some US$930m will be invested. Of this amount, US$66m has been allocated to the construction of 15 new penitential communities, the first of which is scheduled for completion in September this year. This modernisation of the infrastructure is meant to be the first step towards 'humanising' the prisons.
According to Interior Minister Jesse Chacón these 'communities' are an adaptation of a Spanish model, in which physical contact between guards and inmates is minimised with the introduction of modern security equipment, and the inmates are able to establish 'production cooperatives'.