lack of hygiene, discontent, resentment [and] conflicts.”22 In addition, the electrical, drinking water, sanitation, and other facilities had collapsed. According to the information provided by the State, the Honduran prison system is experiencing a “prison emergency.”23 26. These problems had become worse owing to the implementation of the penal reforms adopted by the State under the “zero tolerance” policy that sought to eradicate the maras24 and gangs in order to control the violence. These measures included the reform, by Decree No. 117-2003 adopted in August 2003, of the definition of the offense of unlawful association established in article 332 of the Criminal Code, increasing the punishments for this offense and including in the text an explicit mention of the maras as a form of unlawful association.25 27. Following this reform, detentions based on suspicion, together with mass arrests based on the appearance of the individual and without a warrant from a competent authority became a common practice of the police.26 28. The foregoing resulted in an increase in the levels of overpopulation in the prisons and accentuated the structural problems that existed throughout the prison system, but particularly in those centers for individuals accused of belonging to the “maras.” At the time of the facts, the country’s 24 prisons had a total capacity of 8,280 places. However, in 2004, the prison population was 10,931 and, in 2008, this increased to 11,723.27 22 Cf. Informe sobre la situación del sistema penitenciario en Honduras [Report on the situation of the prison system in Honduras] issued by the Inter-institutional Prison Reform Commission (file of attachments to the merits report, attachment 57, folio 759). See also: National Human Rights Commission of Honduras, Annual Report 2003, Chapter II: Security and Justice (file of attachments to the merits report, attachment 66, folio 946); United Nations Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations with regard to Honduras, December 13, 2006, CCPR/C/HND/CO/1; United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Report on the visit to Honduras, December 1, 2006, A/HRC/4/440/Add.4. 23 Cf. Friendly settlement agreement, supra note 15. 24 According the OAS Public Security Department, the maras are transnational gangs that began to take shape in the Central American region at the beginning of the 1990s influenced by the deportation of young people from the United States. (“Definition and Categorization of Gangs,” Appendix IV, Report: El Salvador. Department of Public Security, OAS, Washington, D.C., 2007). In addition, according to the United Nations definition “the maras are organizations composed of adolescents and young adults of both sexes who develop ties of solidarity and identification among themselves and fight for the territorial control.” (U.N., Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Seguridad ciudadana y violencia en América Latina: diagnóstico y políticas en los años noventa, 1999). 25 The relevant part of this norm establishes: “The National Congress […] Decrees: Article 1. To amend article 332 of the Penal Code, contained in Decree No. 144-83 of August 23, 1983, which should read as follows: Article 332. Unlawful Association: The heads or ringleaders of maras, gangs, and other groups that associate with the permanent purpose of executing any act that constitutes an offense shall be sanctioned with the punishment of nine to twelve years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000.00 to 200,000.00 Lempiras. The other members of the said unlawful associations shall be sanctioned with the same punishment of imprisonment established in the preceding paragraph, reduced by one-third. The heads or ringleaders are those who are prominent or identify themselves as such, and whose decisions influence the intentions and actions of the group” (merits report, folio 43). 26 Cf. U.N., Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations, supra note 22, and Mano Suave and Mano Dura en Honduras: presentation by Tomás Andino Mencia during the First Central American Congress on Youth, Security and Justice. Antigua, Guatemala, March 15 and 16, 2008 (file of attachments to the merits report, attachment 58, folios 802 and 803). 27 Cf. U.N., Committee against Torture. Initial periodic report of Honduras, September 9, 2008. UN Doc. CAT/C/HND/1., para. 223. 11