CAT/C/54/D/456/2011 Larez, and at no stage was any individual petition filed or a review on the merits requested or conducted. 2.23 With regard to the admissibility criteria established in article 22, paragraph 5 (b), of the Convention, the complainants contend that there is no appropriate domestic remedy left for them to exhaust. Even though they reported the disappearance of M r. Guerrero Larez promptly, the authorities have acted negligently; no thorough investigation has been conducted into the facts at issue and, to date, the fate of their relative has not been ascertained. The investigation initiated by the Public Prosecutio n Service has not led to the establishment of his whereabouts or the identification of the persons involved in his torture and enforced disappearance. Similarly, the decision of Court No. 2 in which it granted the habeas corpus request submitted by Ms. Hernández Colmenarez has been ineffective. The complaint 3.1 The complainants allege that Mr. Guerrero Larez is a victim of a violation by the State party of his rights under articles 2, 11 and 14 of the Convention. 3.2 The complainants argue that the general state of prisons and the human rights situation of persons deprived of their liberty in the State party is a matter of concern for human rights bodies such as the Inter-American Commission. They draw attention to overcrowding, the lack of basic services, the high degree of insecurity, the number of deaths and assaults in prisons, as well as the failure to investigate and impunity. Against this background of violence, the prison staff, particularly the military personnel within the National Guard, who are responsible for guarding the perimeter and exterior of prisons, frequently resort to a disproportionate use of firearms and subject inmates to severe beatings that often prove fatal. Moreover, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the prison authorities, organized gangs of prisoners commit acts of sexual violence, armed attacks, serious assaults and murders against other inmates who refuse to submit to extortion or who compete for control over parts of the prison. According to information available when the complaint was submitted to the Committee, between 1999 and 2008, 3,664 people were presumed to have died and 11,401 to have been injured in places of deprivation of liberty in the State party. 2 3.3 With regard to article 2 of the Convention, the complainants allege that, despite the general situation described above, the prison authorities have not taken effective legislative, judicial or other measures to prevent the ongoing practice of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in prisons. In the present case, the State party did not take any step to prevent Mr. Guerrero Larez from being subjected to acts of torture or, in particular, to prevent his disappearance at the hands of other inmates, with the acquiescence of the civil authorities of the Penitentiary and of National Guard officers. 3.4 The complainants refer to the general level of violence in the State party ’s prisons (see para. 3.2 above) and maintain that the State party has violated its obligations under article 11 of the Convention by acting negligently in failing to adopt sufficient and adequate measures to guarantee that persons deprived of their liberty in prisons are not subjected to torture. The prison situation has not changed significantly in over 10 years and no policies or plans have been adopted to address the level of violence in prisons. 3 3.5 The State party has not granted any redress to the victims in accordance with article 14 of the Convention. On the contrary, the indifference of the authorities to the __________________ 2 3 6/11 The complainants refer to Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela, a report of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (OAS/Ser.L/V/II. Doc 54), paras. 811 et seq. Ibid., paras. 829 and 850. GE.15-10585