30
The system of corruption and privileges described above has spread to all
aspects of daily prison life, and covers the obtaining of beds, mattresses,
food, air conditioning units, televisions and radios. According to repeated
and concurring statements by prisoners, weekly fees ranging from 15 to
20 lempiras are to be paid to the coordinators for cleaning and
maintaining order in the wing.
The self‐governance regime also applies to food; the prison staff
admitted that all food portions are handed over directly to the
coordinators, who take responsibility for distributing them. According to
certain accounts, some of the food is distributed and some is sold to the
prisoners.
A number of inmates stated that they had been beaten as punishment by
other inmates or by prison staff, on orders from the coordinators, and
that sometimes the coordinator himself administered the
“punishment”. 105
86.
The Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y Rehabilitación de las Víctimas
de la Tortura (CPTRTR), in its response to the questionnaire circulated for the production of
this report, indicated that among the main problems facing the Honduran prison system is
“the institution of “coordinators’ (coordinadores) of the modules or households, in all the
prisons, who physically punish the other persons deprived of liberty,” and “the illegal
charges for being able to remain in a given module or household, by the coordinators of
the modules, of up to 250 dollars.” 106
87.
The IACHR and United Nations mechanisms have also identified serious
structural problems, including situations of self‐government and benefits systems in
Paraguay.
88.
In this respect, the United Nations Rapporteur on Torture found that in
general both in the oldest prisons and in those recently constructed there is an inadequate
supply of food, clothes, and medical care, which pushes the prisoners to seek other forms
of securing a dignified existence. Thus the detainees who lack external support and
financial resources are forced to offer their work to detainees in better economic
conditions and are completely at their mercy, resulting in extreme situations of inequality
105
United Nations, Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, Report on the visit to Honduras of the
SPT, CAT/OP/HND/1, adopted on February 10, 2010, paras. 205‐207, 229 and 236. In addition, the Working Group
on Arbitrary Detention noted in the report on its visit to Honduras in 2006 that the authorities do not effectively
administer the prisons. And it concluded that the budget limitations the prison system faces “cannot justify the
abdication from the public responsibility to provide the detainees with these services, which they currently can
105
obtain only through constant unlawful payments and a bustling network of businesses run by the inmates.”
United Nations, Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Report on mission to Honduras, A/HRC/4/40/Add.4,
adopted on December 1, 2006, para. 77.
106
Response sent by the CPTRT to the questionnaire for this report, received via email dated on May
24, 2010.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents