Thaindian News

Caracas, Jan 12 (IANS/EFE) Over 1,300 relatives of inmates, including women and children, have been protesting in support of the prisoners’ demand for better condition in Venezuelan jails.
Around 1,300 relatives remain “self-kidnapped” in three jails in support of the convicts’ demands, media reports said Monday.

They were demanding better conditions of confinement and an end to judicial delays and alleged mistreatment by prison guards.

The protest launched Jan 3 by 800 people at Yare jail near Caracas was joined Sunday by some 443 relatives of prisoners at El Rodeo jail and another 70 at the El Junquito detention centre.

In the El Rodeo jail some 383 women and 60 men decided to remain incarcerated voluntarily after their Sunday visit was over, the Caracas daily El Nacional said.

At the same time, some 40 women and 30 children stayed behind bars Sunday in the El Junquito center, Ultimas Noticias newspaper said.

Spokespersons for the convicts’ relatives told the media that they fully support the protest going on at Yare.

The Yare inmates and some 800 of their relatives “kidnapped themselves” to demand the warden’s resignation.

Last Friday, 20 women and 20 children left Yare prison after negotiations among inmates, their relatives, judicial authorities and the National Ombudsman’s Office.

Venezuela has 29 prisons and 16 penitentiaries housing around 20,000 inmates, according to official data.

–IANS/EFE

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