31
between those who have the resources to secure comfortable conditions and those who
must resign to living in inhumane conditions. 107
89.
Along the same lines, the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, in
the report on its mission to Paraguay, describes how at the National Penitentiary of
Tacumbú there is a system in which certain inmates, called “foremen” (capataces), along
with the prison staff, charge a fee for entering and staying in the various wings of that
prison, establishing a system of prices in keeping with the conditions of the respective
wing. There are also weekly fees for maintaining order and for cleaning, which, if not paid
to the “foreman,” lead to one being expelled from the wing. 108
90.
As made clear in the above examples, the lack of effective control by the
authorities of what goes on in the prisons may lead to truly serious and complex situations
in which it is impossible for the penalty entailing deprivation of liberty to serve its
purposes. The prisons then become, as the IACHR has already said, “schools for crime and
anti‐social behavior leading to recidivism in place of rehabilitation,” 109 and places in which
the human rights of the prisoners and their families – especially those in vulnerable
conditions – are systematically violated.
91.
The IACHR recognizes the need for the prisoners to have the possibility
and the spaces for organizing on their own, sports, religious, cultural, and musical activities,
and even to coordinate certain aspects of their living arrangements, 110 which is favorable
for attaining the objectives of the penalty, and clearly for maintaining harmony and the
sound operation of the prisons. Nonetheless, the Commission emphasizes the fundamental
principle that the State, as guarantor of the rights of persons deprived of liberty, should not
encourage or allow certain prisoners to have power over fundamental aspects of the lives
of other prisoners.
92.
For a person deprived of liberty to have to pay or be subjected to other
abuses to obtain the basic elements necessary to live in dignified conditions is contrary to
international human rights law and inadmissible from any point of view.
93.
In addition, the fact that the State allows or tolerates systems of
privileges in which a certain class of prisoners with greater purchasing power can
monopolize the best spaces and resources of prisons to the detriment of other prisoners –
which represent the majority– who are not in the same conditions, is also inadmissible.
When this happens, the most vulnerable persons are relegated to overcrowded,
��
107
United Nations, Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, Report on the mission to Paraguay, A/HRC/7/3/Add.3, adopted on October 1, 2007. Ch. IV:
Conditions of detention, paras. 67‐68.
108
United Nations, Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, Report on the visit to Paraguay of the
SPT, CAT/OP/HND/1, adopted on June 7, 2010, paras. 158 and 161.
109
IACHR, Fifth Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, Ch. VIII, para. 69.
110
See in this regard, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Rule
28.2).
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