A mutiny in a Venezuelan prison on Friday left at least 17 dead and nine injured, including the director of the prison, said a military report, seen by AFP. "Public order disturbances" took place in the Los Llanos prison center in Guanare (west), when detainees broke down "the security fencing around the perimeter" outside the prison, "in a mass escape attempt , " according to this document. The death toll is 17 dead and nine injured, but could climb, the military report said.
Prison staff, guarded by soldiers, attempted mediation with the chief of the mutineers. However, the inmates attacked them violently, injuring the director of the prison center "on the shoulder with a sharp object" . "The conflict is ongoing," said Carolina Giron, of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, an NGO that defends the rights of detainees. According to her, the detainees rose up because they were victims of violence and "because they are not allowed any visit and they have no bread or water" . According to her, 2,500 prisoners are crammed into an establishment with a capacity of 750 places.
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Due to the coronavirus pandemic that is also raging in Venezuela, family and family visits to detainees have been interrupted. However, detainees often receive food and medicine through these visits. According to the Observatory, some 97 detainees died behind bars last year, 70% of them due to diseases such as tuberculosis, due to lack of medicines and medical care.
Another detainee advocacy organization, Una Ventana a la libertad (A Window on Freedom), said that some 192 people died last year in police station cells due to lack of space in prisons. Venezuelan authorities say no cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the country's prisons.