29
Prisoners’ families visited daily and the prisoners cooked together,
worked and even ran businesses within the institution that enabled them
to earn a living […] They explained that the bosses of each cell block are
elected democratically by the prisoners themselves. They emphasized
that everyone tries to maintain stability within the prison and that the
prisoners respect one another and follow the inside rules […]
The delegation visited cell block No. 19 in the same prison and was
deeply concerned by the poor living conditions of the inmates being held
there […] The cell blocks had no ventilation and all the areas where
inmates were held were overcrowded. The delegation observed that, in
case of fire, it would be difficult to evacuate these places […] These
people were living in conditions of extreme overcrowding. They had no
contact with the “privileged” area […] The members of the delegation
were told confidentially that the prison authorities were aware that this
situation of self‐rule was occurring inside the prison and that many of the
internal rules had been agreed between the inmate bosses and the prison
authorities – to the benefit of both sides. The delegation also found that
the prison staff was insufficient to be able to stop any conflict that might
arise between inmates.
85.
The IACHR observes that Honduras is another State in which the
existence of such patterns of self‐rule and lack of effective control by the authorities was
found. In this respect, the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, in its 2010 report
on Honduras, referred in detail to the main challenges facing the prison administration in
Honduras:
The Subcommittee noted that the shortage of staff assigned to the
prisons [Marco Aurelio Soto Penitentiary in Tegucigalpa the Penitentiary
of San Pedro Sula] had given rise to a regime of self‐governance, under
the control of “coordinators” and “subcoordinators” who are prisoners
who act as spokespersons in dealings between the authorities and the
rest of the prison population […] From talking with inmates, the
Subcommittee learned that the coordinators and subcoordinators are in
charge of keeping order and assigning spaces in each wing. This was
accepted by the prison staff with whom the Subcommittee spoke, who
also revealed that they never enter some wings, such as those where the
members of maras are held.
The Subcommittee observed that, in the facilities visited, corruption was
institutionalized by way of a sophisticated system that included
procedures, steps and time frames […] Through talks with a large number
of prisoners, the Subcommittee learned that they must pay a
considerable sum of lempiras in order to enjoy benefits of any kind,
including a cell or a place to sleep.
[…]
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