CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela has freed more than 2,000 inmates to improve conditions in its violent and overcrowded prisons, state media said yesterday.
The South American country’s penal system is in crisis, with nearly 50,000 prisoners confined to aging facilities designed to hold just 13,000, rights groups say.
It is a growing issue ahead of next year’s election, when President Hugo Chavez will seek another six-year term, and it drew international attention in June when thousands of troops were used to end riots, gunbattles and a deadly insurrection in one prison.
State news agency AVN said the program only applied to inmates serving sentences of five years or less and who had behaved well. Factors such as the crime committed and its impact on society also were taken into account.
“These 2,000 … are citizens who are now outside the prison walls and are returning to their normal lives,” the head of the Supreme Court, Judge Luisa Morales, told state TV.
“This is not indiscriminate. Do not think the idea is that anyone who asks to be released is going to be freed because of these measures. No, there must be a study,” she said.
“We must ensure that the people released under these conditions really have the possibility to rejoin society. If they are not repeat offenders and behaved well in prison, they can be given the chance to return to the life of the country.”
It was unclear how many more inmates might eventually be freed under the program, but a local newspaper has quoted Prisons Minister Iris Varela as saying that as many as 20,000 detainees posed no risk and should be released.
