19 medical treatment and prison guards routinely ignored inmates’ requests for treatment; (h) the food the prison served the inmates had often gone bad; (i) every time prison guards conducted searches or inspections in the cellblock, they robbed or destroyed the inmates’ personal belongings, which the relatives had often gone to great pains to provide; (j) the posture of the prison guards vis-à-vis the inmates was one of threat and hostility; (k) the State did not offer any kind of instructive, vocational or recreational activity and the only such activities available to the inmates were those provided by churches; (l) there was no privacy in the cellblock for family visits; even conjugal visits were inside the cellblock, on the very beds where the inmates slept. Some of the relatives interviewed were certain that the inmates were at times subjected to group punishments, such as being made to stand out in the rain or the sun. 35 47. The Inter-American Commission observes that the facts that are the subject of this report –the fire in Cellblock 19 and the circumstances surrounding it- were not an isolated event; instead, it was a direct consequence of the structural problems in the Honduran prison system. These problems have been singled out by national institutions, by the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights and by the Inter-institutional Commission for Prison Reform, and by United Nations human rights bodies such as the Human Rights Committee 36 and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions. 37 48. In reference to the structural problems, the Inter-institutional Commission for Prison Reform observed the following: “At the present time the national prisons are overpopulated, causing overcrowding, unhealthy conditions, contamination, disagreements, antagonism, In the decision mentioned earlier, the Sentence confrontations, promiscuity and riots.” 38 Enforcement Court of the San Pedro Sula Judicial District wrote the following about the general situation of the prison system: The entire prison system in our country is in danger of collapsing because inside the physical facilities, they do not have what they need to control the prison population. […] Article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides that each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The conditions in our prison system amount to just that, and are not in compliance with that convention. The face we put forward hardly looks HUMAN. 39 49. Throughout this process, the State has neither objected to nor questioned the information supplied by the petitioners in connection with the detention conditions in Cellblock 19. Nor has it disproved the allegations regarding the failure to segregate convicted inmates from 35 See: The petitioners’ observations on the merits, dated April 10, 2009. Annex 20. CD with the record of the domestic court proceedings in the case and testimony. Recordings of the interviews with: Abencio Reyes and Brenda Elena Leyva. 36 UN. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 40 of the Covenant. Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee. Honduras. December 13, 2006. CCPR/C/HND/CO/1. Available at: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G06/459/46/PDF/G0645946.pdf?OpenElement 37 UN. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions. Addendum. Mission to Honduras (May 23-31, http://daccess-dds2006), A/HRC/4/40/Add.4. Available at: ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G06/152/64/PDF/G0615264.pdf?OpenElement 38 Original petition received on July 14, 2005. Annex I. Report on the prison system in Honduras, issued by the Inter-institutional Commission for Prison Reform, p. 30. The Inter-institution Commission for Prison Reform was appointed by presidential mandate in April 2003, in the wake of a massacre at the “El Porvenir” Prison Farm. Its mandate was to examine the prison system and make recommendations. 39 Original petition received on July 14, 2005. Annex 16. Case 1009/04, Folio 1979: Decision of the Sentence Enforcement Judge of the San Pedro Sula Judicial District, April 21, 2004.