24
71.
Accordingly, the Commission has stated that:
It is fundamental that the deprivation of liberty have well‐defined
objectives, which cannot be exceeded by the activity of the prison
authorities, not even under the cover of the disciplinary power that vests
in them, and, therefore, the prisoner may not be marginalized, but
instead reinserted in society. In other words, the prison practices must be
in accord with a basic principle: no suffering should be added to the
deprivation of liberty than what it already represents: The prisoner
should be accorded humane treatment, with full respect for the dignity of
his or her person, while at the same time seeking to facilitate reinsertion
91
of the prisoner in society.
B.
The State’s duty to exercise effective control over prisons, and to
prevent acts of violence
72.
As already mentioned, the State, when depriving a person of liberty,
assumes a specific and material commitment to respect and ensure his or her rights 92 ,
particularly the rights to life and humane treatment. These rights, in addition to being non‐
derogable, are fundamental and basic for the exercise of all other rights, and constitute
indispensable minimums for the exercise of any activity. 93
73.
The duty of the State to protect the life and ensure humane treatment
for any person deprived of liberty includes the positive obligation to take all preventive
measures to protect the prisoners from the attacks or attempted attacks by the State’s
own agents or third persons, including other prisoners. 94 In effect, as the prison is a place
where the State exercises total control over the prisoners’ lives, it is obligated to protect
them from acts of violence, whatever the source. 95
74.
In addition, the Inter‐American Court has established that the States’
obligations erga omnes to respect and ensure the norms of protection, and to ensure the
effectiveness of the rights, have effects beyond the relationship between its agents and the
persons subject to its jurisdiction. These effects are manifested in the positive obligation of
the State to adopt the necessary measures to ensure, in certain circumstances, the
effective protection of human rights in relations among individuals. Hence, omissions in its
91
IACHR, Annual Report 2002, Chapter IV, Cuba, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.117, Doc 1 Rev. 1, adopted on March 7,
2003, para. 73. IACHR, Annual Report 2001, Chapter IV(c), Cuba, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.114, Doc. 5 Rev., adopted on April
16, 2002, para. 76.
92
IACHR, Special Report on the Human Rights Situation at the Challapalca prison, para. 113; IACHR,
Report No. 41/99, Merits, Minors in Detention, Honduras, March 10 1999, para. 135.
93
IACHR, Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela, Ch. VI, para. 667.
94
IACHR, Report No. 41/99, Merits, Minors in Detention, Honduras, March 10, 1999, paras. 136 and
140.
95
IACHR, Report No. 67/06, Case 12,476, Merits, Oscar Elías Biscet et al., Cuba, October 21, 2006, para.
149.
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