Venezuelan prison inmates on hunger strike

Caracas, Agency
Inmates at eight Venezuelan prisons housing 11,900 people began a hunger strike to protest the militarization of Tocoron penitentiary, where a recent riot left 16 dead.

The eight prisons include Tocoron, La Planta, Rodeo, Yare, Penitenciaria General de Venezuela, Los Pinos, El Dorado and Coro, Caracas dailies said Wednesday.

Relatives of inmates at La Planta said that the voluntary hunger strike was called "by the ringleaders" of that prison "in solidarity with Tocoron" and also to protest chronic court delays in prisoners' cases.

At La Planta, which houses about 2,000 inmates, a prisoner died last Sunday and five others were injured in an armed clash in which grenades were used.

Some relatives of the prisoners at the Tocoron prison also jointed the hunger strike begun there to protest its militarization, the daily El Nacional reported.

Sixteen prisoners died and another 35 were wounded last week during four days of disturbances at Tocoron, which has a population of 3,200 inmates.

Last month, more than 4,000 inmates in three Venezuelan prisons began a hunger strike to protest alleged mistreatment by the guards, the delays in court proceedings and overcrowding.

In the jammed Venezuelan prisons - considered to be some of the most violent in the region - a total of 221 prisoners died during the first half of this year, 25.5 percent more than during the same period last year, according to data compiled by the independent Venezuelan Prison Observatory.

In Venezuela, hunger strikes and "self-kidnappings" of prisoners' relatives are frequent measures used to bring pressure to bear on the authorities to accelerate trials and improve the treatment of inmates.