A 26-year-old man, who was being held in a preventive detention center in the island state of Nueva Esparta, died after being beaten by his cellmates, the Venezuelan NGO reported Wednesday. A Window to Freedom (UVL).
“The man received multiple bruises in the cephalic region, during a fight, last Sunday, July 17 in the afternoon” in the Mariño municipality, the non-governmental organization reported in a press release.
He explained that the authorities of the preventive detention center in Nueva Esparta did not transfer the inmate to a health center until Tuesday morning, when he was admitted to the Luis Ortega hospital in the city of Porlamar, where he died hours later.
“It is not the first time that a prisoner has been beaten by other inmates in this center,” the letter stressed.
UVL added that the population that remains confined in these cells is being investigated for these events, with the help of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Directorate of Penitentiary Affairs.
In April 2021, one person died and another was injured during another fight at the Yare II Penitentiary Center, in the central state of Miranda.
Overcrowding in preventive detention centers in Venezuela persists, since occupation in these facilities exceeds 150%, say NGOs and experts
