11. The petitioners say that until 2008 the investigation of the incident at San Pedro Sula
Prison has remained at the preliminary stage. They say that in cases such as this, in which
there have been violations of the right to life and personal integrity, the only remedy that can
be considered adequate is a criminal investigation. In this regard, they say that from the
outset the State neglected to exhaust every line of inquiry to determine who was responsible
for the acts or omissions of the authorities allegedly involved. They note that in this case,
“time was of the essence to ensure the success of the criminal investigations in effectively
safeguarding the rights that were violated.” They hold that during de process the Office of the
Attorney General destroyed evidence on the case, and that according to one prosecutor, 8 this
evidence was not included in the record of the proceeding.
12. The petitioners also hold that Honduras violated Article 4(1) of the American Convention in
connection with Article 1(1) thereof because it allowed the electrical system to fall into
disrepair without adopting preventive measures, placing the lives of the inmates at risk. In this
regard, they say that at the time of their deaths the inmates were in the custody of the State,
which, therefore, was required to ensure their lives and integrity. As regards Article 5(1) and
(2) of the American Convention, the petitioners consider that the State has adopted an
omissive attitude to its obligation to ensure the right to personal integrity of persons deprived
of liberty, and that this was reflected in the overcrowded conditions and deficient structures in
which they were housed, which were pivotal factors in the deaths of the inmates. They also
state that the inmates were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, that they lived in
unsanitary conditions, were poorly fed, and the medical services were deficient. As regards
section 5 of the aforementioned Article, they note that at least 44 of the persons who died in
the blaze were remand prisoners who had not yet been sentenced, which shows that the
former lived in the same space as convicted prisoners.
13. As to the argument of the State that domestic remedies have not been exhausted, the
petitioners note that in the instant case the exception to the rule of prior exhaustion of
domestic remedies applies because there has been an unwarranted delay in rendering a
decision at the domestic level. They allege that for the victims’ families, the domestic judicial
proceeding has proved ineffective in punishing those responsible in accordance to law, and
because they have been denied a simple and prompt remedy that might enable them to know
the truth about what happened and receive fair compensation for damages. For the
aforementioned, they affirm that the State violated the rights enshrined in Articles 4, 5, 8(1)
and 25 of the Convention, in connection with the general obligation contained in Article 1.1 of
said international instrument.
B.
The State
14. The State acknowledges that on May 17, 2004, a fire started in Cellblock 19 at San Pedro
Sula Prison that caused the deaths of 107 inmates and that this calamity was caused by the
electrical system overheating as a result of its dilapidated state and the excessive number of
electrical appliances in the cellblock. The State says that "it does not refute the fact that the
country’s prisons, in particular in the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, are in a state of
crisis owing to the high number of persons deprived of liberty confined in them, in many cases
with populations that exceed their design capacity. Nor do we deny that [in] many of these
prisons the electrical, water, plumbing and other systems had collapsed.” 9 However, the State
adds that in the past two years, through the Ministry of Security, funds had been invested in
the improvement of prison conditions,10 and that a bill introducing a new Prison Law is
presently before the Honduran Congress.
15. The State says that the fire of May 17, 2004, came about as a result of "the deplorable
state of the electrical system, which was overloaded by the excessive number of electrical
8
The petitioners say that this statement is based on reports in the press: “Cierran caso de masacre en penal
sampedrano” [San Pedro Prison Massacre Case Closed], Diario digital Hondudiario, August 22, 2007, and “Botan
evidencias recogidas tras el incendio del presidio” [Prison Fire Evidence Tossed Out], El Tiempo, August 23, 2007.
9 Response of the State of February 28, 2007.
10 In this regard, the State notes that the prison population has declined, making it possible for most prisons to
operate at 80% of their installed capacity, and that ventilation and medical services have improved
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