4
c) Despite the increase in the prison population by more than approximately 10,000
inmates in 2010, the percentage of injured and dead is the lowest reported in
recent years, which would appear to reflect that “there is no direct link between
the growth in the prison population and the acts of violence; this is a result of the
comprehensive care policies put in practice by the National Prison Services
Directorate that are beginning to have an effect on the reduction in violence
among the population deprived of liberty”;
d) The Ciudad Bolívar Detention Center “Vista Hermosa Prison” is a detention center
for individuals who are being held for trial, although currently it houses detainees
who have been convicted;
e) Regarding the violent acts that the petitioners have alleged as justification for
their request for provisional measures, the DNSP checked the data provided by
the petitioners against the official data recorded in the Directorate, which is
attached to the Ministry of People's Power for Internal Relations and Justice, with
the following results:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
The representatives claimed that the current prison population is around 930
inmates, when the actual number in the Vista Hermosa Prison is 856 persons
deprived of liberty, of whom 518 are being held for trial and 338 have been
sentenced and convicted. The prison is designed to hold 400 inmates;
The DNSP has 45 guards for this prison and not 16 as indicated by the
representatives; also, recruitment is underway in the Oriental region, and
itinerant teams composed of technical and professional staff have been
mobilized to assist the staff;
Inmates of this detention center receive a constant dietary regime of
2,654.65 calories per person per day;
With regard to health care, the prison presently employs two doctors, a
dentist and a nurse. 2,927 inmates received medical attention during 2010,
and 1,016 in the first quarter of 2011;
The DNSP, through the Ciudad Bolívar Detention Center, invited the
competent bodies, namely the Attorney General’s Office, the Scientific,
Criminal and Forensic Corps (CICPC), and the trial courts of Bolivar State, to
order and carry out the pertinent procedures and investigations in order to
fully clarify the facts and determine the authors and/or participants;
Regarding the information provided by the petitioners that eight persons
deprived of liberty had died in August 2009, the State indicated that there
were 804 inmates that month, and therefore the deaths represented 0.9% of
the population, “a low percentage of acts of violence in this prison in relation
to the population deprived of liberty at the time”;
In 2009, 11 inmates died in violent incidents in the Ciudad Bolívar Detention
Center, which “in relation to the prison population of 896 inmates in the
Detention Center at the close of 2009, constituted 1.2%.” Also, with regard to
17 inmates identified by the petitioners as deceased as a result of violent acts
during the year, the State underscored that “the true information [is] 16
deceased, five of whom died of natural causes”;
In terms of deaths and injuries, the situations that have occurred in the
Ciudad Bolívar Detention Center are largely isolated events unrelated to riots
or brawls, but rather to specific problems among the inmates;
With regard to the way the media has treated this issue, the State reiterated
that, historically, the social communications media has sought to discredit the