Venezuelan prison observatory reports over 60 deaths in state custody since April

The Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (OVP) reports that more than 60 people have died in state custody in Venezuela since April this year.

The latest case, reported today by the organization on its social networks, concerns Luis Alejandro García, 30 years old, who died in the Hombre Nuevo Juan López Training Center in Tocuyito, in the State of Carabobo, presumably due to tuberculosis.

According to the OVP, over 2,200 people are detained in the prison with a capacity of 1,400, with an occupancy rate of over 157%. Overcrowding, the organization warns, increases the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, exacerbated by difficulties in timely access to diagnosis and medical care.

The NGO calls for immediate intervention on the health conditions of the facility, urgent screening of the detained population to identify any cases of tuberculosis and an investigation into the circumstances of García's death and the medical care received.