MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Prison Documentation Center (CDPC) reported the death of two inmates in penitentiary centers on the island due to medical negligence during the past month of August. The victims, Luis Franklin Ruiz (Kilo 7, Camagüey) and Mario Benítez (Prison 1580, Havana), died after not receiving adequate medical attention, according to the NGO in an update of your monthly report on prison conditions in Cuba.
The CDPC report highlights that the lack of medical care is one of the most common problems faced by people deprived of liberty in Cuba. Of the 103 events monitored by the organization in August, 49 were related to complaints about the health status of prisoners and the denial of medical care.
In addition, food in prisons remains a cause for concern. In at least 10 prisons, inmates have reported inadequate food quality. According to the report, “extreme dehumanization” is manifested in the provision of spoiled food, such as the rotten chicken offered in the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey on August 13, coinciding with the birthday of Fidel Castro.
Regarding physical abuse and living conditions, the CDPC also documented incidents of beatings, torture and degrading conditions. One of the most disturbing cases is that of Faustino Laza Ajete, who was forced to go to the dining room of his prison in his underwear. Pine Forest of the RiverIn another prison, Jorge Luis Gamboa Román, a political prisoner, was tortured with handcuffs.
The report details that in August 74 victims of these abuses were identified, among them the political prisoner Yilian Lucía Oramas García, who began a hunger strike to protest against the imposed prison regime.
The organization also denounced that the human rights situation in Cuban prisons remains alarming, with overcrowding, lack of hygiene and systematic violence as predominant characteristics of the penitentiary system on the island.
The allegations included in the report highlight the “insistence on silencing” prisoners, many of whom are subjected to long periods in punishment cells for protesting against living conditions.
Raúl Enrique Medina, head of Press for the CDPC, told Marti News The organization recorded “the occurrence of collective diseases that affected the entire prison population, such as dengue, tuberculosis, chickenpox and others that have not even been correctly diagnosed and that cause common symptoms such as fever, vomiting, headaches, fainting.”
On the other hand, he pointed out that the events monitored by the CDPC during August occurred in more than 30 penitentiary centers in 13 provinces of the country, in addition to the Isla de la Juventud. “This may indicate to us that the violations of the rights of persons deprived of liberty in Cuba are not isolated, but are spread throughout the entire penitentiary system throughout the country,” he said.
Medina also stressed that his organization’s reports constitute an “underreporting of the total number of violations that must occur in Cuban prisons.” “It is just a summary of what we can monitor during the month. Unfortunately, the reality is much worse than what we can show in our reports and they show every month that the Cuban State fails to comply with the Nelson Mandela Rules for the treatment of prisoners approved by the United Nations and other regulations,” he said.
