Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 02:30:58 GMT
From: hariette-AT-easynet.co.uk (hariette spierings)
Subject: M-G: Latin Americas Inhumane Prisons



I forward this editorial of the New York Times as a complement to the
posting on the MRTA affair I did earlier.  It proves that while certainly a
humanitarian question, the question of the prisons conditions in Peru is not
a question of life or death for some of the most authorititative imperialist
policy makers.

Is this the same New York Times who gave so much support to Fujimori's
"plucky democratic struggle" when it was capturing its victims?

Morerover, for the New York Times only MRTA prisoners are worth mentioning
and shedding a crocodrile tear on their "naughty boys" behalf.  The others -
all ten thousand of them - thankyou very much, Mr. Fujimori.  Those are
cruel terrorists - i.e. real communist revolutionaries fighting for
political power and to break the chains of their imperialist system.  It is
all well for the USA that they should rot in jail.     


Adolfo



>January 5, 1997
>
>
>Latin America's Inhumane Prisons
>
>The Peruvian guerrillas occupying the Japanese ambassador's
>residence have, among other things, demanded better conditions for
>their imprisoned colleagues. Although the method they chose to
>make the point is deplorable, their diagnosis of prison life in Peru is on
>the mark. Peru makes serving time particularly harsh for the Tzpac
>Amaru guerrillas and others convicted of political crimes. But common
>criminals throughout Latin America endure scandalous conditions. 
>
>Walking through a prison in Peru is like stepping into a Hieronymus
>Bosch triptych of hell. Spittle rains down from the third-floor cells. 
>Prisoners stick their arms and legs through the bars and beg by lowering
>owls on strings. Inside the cells, the floors are covered with slime and
>filth. Men are crammed into the cells, sitting on the floor or on concrete
>bunk beds with no mattresses. 
>
>Most of the inhabitants of these medieval bedlams should not be in prison
>to begin with, for they have not yet been tried. Some languish for years,
>only to be found innocent or given no sentence. 
>In Honduras and Uruguay, according to the Prison Project of Human
>Rights Watch, 90 percent of prisoners are awaiting trial. 
>Guards do not keep order. Prison gangs do. Drug abuse is rampant. Some
>prisons do not even feed prisoners. In others, the food is meager and barely
>edible. 
>Prisoners without families to bring them food earn their meals by
>working as slaves or prostitutes for other inmates. 
>Many prisons have no medical care. 
>
>In Peru, Brazil and, most recently, Venezuela, government officials have
>put down disturbances by massacring prisoners. 
>
>Although governments claim they cannot afford to put more money into
>prisons, the real problem is that they do not want to. The prisons in
>Venezuela, Latin America's richest nation, are among the continent's most
>violent and squalid. But prisons that hold white-collar criminals,military
>men or wealthy drug traffickers are comfortable places. One in Colombia
>was nicknamed the Sheraton. Most prisons are neglected because ordinary
>prisoners tend to be poor, with no political influence. The only advocates
>for reform are a few dogged human rights and religious groups. 
>
>The low status of prisoners is also a function of Latin America's neglect
>of its courts. Many inmates have no lawyers. Rising crime rates have led
>to overcrowding and heavier loads for judges, whose cases back up for
>rowding and heavier loads for judges, whose cases back up for
>years. Prison guards receive little training and low salaries,encouraging
>corruption. 
>
>The steps governments must take to humanize their prisons are no mystery. 
>
>They include better facilities, professional, decently paid guards and
>crackdowns on corruption and other abuses. More money is needed for
>food, doctors and education and work programs. Most important,
>responsible officials have to build legal systems in which even the poor
>can get real justice. 
>
>



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