104
289.
For its part, in the case of the Juvenile Reeducation Institute, which also
exemplifies the situation described above, the Inter‐American Court found, inter alia, that
the Paraguayan State bore international responsibility for three fires that broke out
between 2000 and 2011 at “Panchito López” Juvenile Reeducation Institute, in which a
total of nine youths died and at least 41 were injured. In its analysis, the Court found that
the State had failed to adopt sufficient preventive measures to respond to the possibility of
a fire, despite warnings from different organizations and international agencies. The facility
was not originally built as a confinement facility, was not equipped with either fire alarms
or fire extinguishers, and the security staff were not trained to deal with emergencies of
326
that type.
290.
In carrying out its monitoring functions, the Inter‐American Commission
on Human Rights, in its press releases, 327 has often reiterated its position with respect to
especially serious fires that have occurred in recent years at prisons in different countries
in the region, such as the Dominican Republic, 328 Argentina, 329 Uruguay, 330 El Salvador, 331
Chile, 332 and Panama. 333
291.
Furthermore, in the context of a recent thematic hearing, the IACHR
received information that on May 22 2009, seven girls died in a fire at Armadale Juvenile
Center in Jamaica. According to the organizations that requested the hearing, this
detention center does not have fire evacuation routes or extinguishers, despite three
previous fires at the facility. 334
326
I/A Court H.R., Case of the “Juvenile Reeducation Institute” V. Paraguay. Judgment of September 2,
2004. Series C No. 112, paras. 134.29‐134.43 and 177‐179.
327
The Inter‐American Commission's press releases, organized by year, are available at:
http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/press_releases.asp.
328
In the case of the Dominican Republic, the Commission refers to the fire at Higüey Prison on March
7, 2005, in which 134 people died. See in this regard IACHR press release 8/05.
329
In the case of Argentina, the IACHR refers to the fires that broke out at Unit 28 of the Buenos Aires
Prison Service (“La Magdalena”) , October 16, 2005, in which 32 prisoners were killed; and at Santiago del Estero
Men’s Prison on November 4, 2007, in which 34 inmates died. See in this regard IACHR press releases 33/05 and
55/07.
330
With respect to Uruguay, the Commission refers to the fire that broke out at Rocha Regional Prison
on July 8, 2010, in which 12 inmates died. See in this regard IACHR press release 68/10.
331
As regards El Salvador, the IACHR refers to the blaze at the Alternative Center for Juvenile Offenders
in Ilobasco, on November 10, 2010, in which at least 16 inmates lost their lives. See in this regard IACHR press
release 112/10.
332
With respect to Chile, the IACHR refers to the fire at San Miguel Prison on December 8, 2010, in
which at least 83 prisoners died. See in this regard IACHR press release 120/10.
333
In the case of Panama, the IACHR recalls the fire that broke out at the Juvenile Detention Center in
Tocumen on January 9, 2011, in which five youths were killed. See in this regard IACHR press release 2/11.
334
IACHR, Public hearing, Situation of Children in Juvenile Detention Centers in Jamaica, 137º Ordinary
Period of Sessions, requested by: State of Jamaica, Jamaicans for Justice, November 3, 2009. See also, The
Gleaner, May 24, 2009, Fire claims 5, 10 in hospital as FIRE destroys sections of Armadale Juvenile Center, available
at: http://jamaica‐gleaner.com/gleaner/20090524/lead/lead1.html.
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