The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has called on government to take steps to reduce overcrowding at the Camp Street Prison, while urging that measures be swiftly adopted to prevent any recurrence of the fire that claimed the life of 17 inmates in March.
“The IACHR believes that prison overcrowding not only constitutes in itself a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, but is a factor that jeopardises the life and personal integrity of those who are incarcerated in a particular facility. Thus is it imperative for the national authorities to take all measures that may be necessary to ensure that prisons do not hold more inmates than they are equipped to house based on their real capacity,” it said in a statement issued on Wednesday, where it condemned the deaths of the inmates.
