The Daily Journal. — More than 60 inmates have died in state custody at detention facilities across Venezuela since April, according to a report released Thursday by the nongovernmental organization Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP).
The human rights organization said the most recent case involved Luis Alejandro García, 30, who died at the Juan López New Man Training Center — formerly known as the El Libertador New Man Training Center — in Tocuyito, Carabobo state.
According to reports collected by the organization, García allegedly died from tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease whose presence raises particular concern at a prison where more than 2,200 people remain incarcerated in a facility designed to hold 1,400 — an occupancy rate exceeding 157%.
The observatory highlighted the epidemiological implications of these prison conditions. “Under these circumstances, overcrowding is not merely a matter of space. Thousands of people living together in overcrowded areas facilitates the transmission and spread of infectious diseases. This risk becomes even greater when inmates face difficulties obtaining timely diagnosis and medical care,” the organization said.
The OVP warned that García’s case “once again raises alarms over the conditions facing the prison population in Tocuyito” and questioned how many inmates “may currently face exposure to tuberculosis inside the prison.”
Given the situation, the organization called on the relevant authorities to intervene. “We demand an urgent health assessment of the prison population, timely detection and treatment of potential tuberculosis cases, and an investigation to clarify the circumstances surrounding García’s death and the medical care he received,” the OVP said in its statement.
“More than 60 people have died in state custody since April, and we cannot allow this figure to continue rising while the structural causes that put prisoners’ lives at risk remain unaddressed,” the prison observatory concluded.
