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| Venezuelan Prisoners Holding 225 |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/21/2001 |
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Prison inmates in Venezuela held 225 friends and family members in protest Tuesday, demanding an end to alleged abuse by guards. The group was taken during visiting hours on Sunday at the Rodeo prison in Miranda state, 25 miles east of Caracas, the capital. Negotiators were seeking the release of 25 children, said Fabio Figueredo, general rehabilitation director for Venezuela's prison system. Forty men and 160 women were also being detained. Negotiations suffered a setback late Tuesday after inmates unexpectedly demanded the dismissal of the Rodeo prison's director, Figueredo said. He added the government is trying to persuade the inmates to drop the demand and that negotiations should continue through Wednesday. As a last resort, the National Guard will free the hostages by force, Figueredo said. In recent months, similar incidents at other Venezuelan prisons were resolved peacefully. For years, Venezuela's 32 prisons have been overcrowded and often dominated by gangs. A 1999 law freed roughly 10,000 inmates who had been waiting months for their cases to be heard by courts. Today, the system has an estimated 15,500 inmates in prisons designed to accommodate 15,000. |
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