Women deprived of liberty in Venezuela live in extreme vulnerability

Before the commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women On Monday, November 25, the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory (OVP) warned about the situation of extreme vulnerability experienced by women deprived of liberty in the prisons and police cells of Venezuela.

The observatory warned that prisoners in the country are made invisible and subjected by the State to sexual violence – among others -, discrimination, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

“In numerous cases, these women are forced to have sexual relations with guards from the Ministry for the Penitentiary Service or members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) in exchange for benefits, a practice that seriously violates their human rights,” the OVP indicated in a press release.

It indicated that the conditions of confinement of those deprived of liberty are inadequate and disproportionately affect women compared to men.

«Many face humiliation, insufficient food and lack of drinking water for personal hygiene, which aggravates their situation of exclusion and mistreatment. “Most of them do not even have access to sanitary pads or tampons to maintain hygiene during their menstrual cycle,” according to the observatory.

In Venezuela there is only one prison for women

The OVP pointed out that in Venezuela there is only one prison for women, the National Institute of Women’s Orientation (INOF). The rest are improvised female annexes that do not meet the minimum standards of confinement and do not meet the particular needs of the detainees.

“A total of 16 female annexes are nothing more than improvised infrastructures that are attached to the male prisons, and that by their very nature do not have the necessary parameters to comply with the gender perspective,” they indicated.

ANDIn the INOF there are 28% of the women deprived of liberty in Venezuela, with a total of 650 women and one critical overcrowding of 185.71%.

Women deprived of liberty during post-election repression

In the context of women arbitrarily deprived of liberty during the post-election repression, those held in the La Crisálida Training Center for Female Prosecuted Women, also in the state of Miranda, face particularly critical conditions.

There, they have registered complaints of sexual abuse committed by guards or members of the National Guard, in addition to obvious negligence in caring for their basic needsaccording to the OVP.

Humberto Prado, director of the OVP, pointed out that the impact of this violence not only affects women deprived of liberty, but also their families, who when visiting them are subjected to verbal abuse and humiliating searches, with touching against their will by prison staff. .

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