A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners.
The Carandiru massacre occurred on 2 October 1992, in Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, when military police stormed the penitentiary following a prison riot. The massacre, which left 111 prisoners dead, is considered by many people to be a major human rights violation.
Carlos Arturo López Bustamante (1890–1950) was a Venezuelan journalist. He was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1890 and died in Chicago, USA in 1950. He was known for his fierce opposition to the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez from the pages of Diario El Fonógrafo newspaper. López Bustamante was the son of journalist Eduardo López Rivas, editor and owner of the Maracaibo newspaper, Diario El Fonógrafo, the magazine El Zulia ilustrado and the publishing house Imprenta Americana. His mother was Doña Carmen Bustamante López, niece of Venezuelan physician Francisco Eugenio Bustamante and a descendant of General Rafael Urdaneta. Doña Carmen died when Carlos was only a child.
Prison overcrowding is a social phenomenon occurring when the demand for space in prisons in a jurisdiction exceeds the capacity for prisoners. The issues associated with prison overcrowding are not new, and have been brewing for many years. During the United States' War on Drugs, the states were left responsible for solving the prison overcrowding issue with a limited amount of money. Moreover, federal prison populations may increase if states adhere to federal policies, such as mandatory minimum sentences. On the other hand, the Justice Department provides billions of dollars a year for state and local law enforcement to ensure they follow the policies set forth by the federal government concerning U.S. prisons. Prison overcrowding has affected some states more than others, but overall, the risks of overcrowding are substantial and there are solutions to this problem.
On 20 August 2012, armed prisoners in the Yare I prison complex, an overcrowded prison in Miranda state near Caracas, Venezuela, rioted. A shootout between two groups resulted in the deaths of 25 people, one of them a visitor. Among those injured during the incident were 29 inmates and 14 visitors.
Crime in Venezuela is widespread, with violent crimes such as murder and kidnapping increasing for several years. In 2014, the United Nations attributed crime to the poor political and economic environment in the country—which, at the time, had the second highest murder rate in the world. Rates of crime rapidly began to increase during the presidency of Hugo Chávez due to the institutional instability of his Bolivarian government, underfunding of police resources, and severe inequality. Chávez's government sought a cultural hegemony by promoting class conflict and social fragmentation, which in turn encouraged "criminal gangs to kill, kidnap, rob and extort". Upon Chávez's death in 2013, Venezuela was ranked the most insecure nation in the world by Gallup.
On 25 January 2013, a riot began at Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Initial reports gave at least 50 people killed and over 120 people injured, and by 27 January a death toll of 61 was reported. Officials on the first day of the riot faulted media for breaking news in advance that the prison would be searched by the military. As the riot continued into a second day, human rights groups faulted overcrowding and conditions in the gang-dominated prison.
On August 23, 2013, a prison riot broke out at Palmasola, a maximum-security prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The riot started when members of one cell block attacked a rival gang in another, using propane tanks as flame throwers. Thirty-one people were killed, including an 18-month-old child who was living at the prison. Thirty-seven others were seriously injured. The riot led to calls for reform in the Bolivian prison system, which is plagued by overcrowding and long delays in the trial system.
Yare Prison is a prison in San Francisco de Yare, in the Simón Bolívar Municipality of the Miranda state, Venezuela. Like other prisons in Venezuela, it is known for its harsh conditions, mainly due to overcrowding and poor facilities. Nationally some 44,500 prisoners are housed in buildings designed for 15,000.
The Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones(OVP, in English Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons) is a Venezuelan NGO working to improve human rights for prisoners. Its offices are located in Caracas. Several media have quoted the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons: New York Times and Associated Press.
María Iris Varela Rangel is a Venezuelan leftist politician, activist, criminologist, member of the board of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and Minister of Popular Power for the Prison Service.
The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict is a Venezuelan non-governmental organization that was founded in 2010 which focuses on promoting human rights and studying social conflict in Venezuela.
María Josefina Bolívar is a Venezuelan politician and perennial candidate. She was presidential candidate twice for the United Democratic Party for Peace and Freedom (PDUPL) in the presidential elections of 2012 and 2013. She also ran for the same party in the regional elections of 2012 and was candidate for the mayoralty of Maracaibo in the municipal elections of 2013. In 2015 she was nominated as candidate for the 4th circuit of Zulia State in the parliamentary elections, and in 2017 she stood as candidate for the Constituent National Assembly.
On March 28, 2018, a fire broke out during a prison riot in the cells at the Carabobo state police headquarters in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. The fire killed at least 68 people and injured scores of others. The fire is one of the deadliest incidents ever in a Venezuelan prison since the 1994 Sabaneta prison fire, in which more than 100 inmates died.
Gilber Caro is a Venezuelan politician, activist and thrice political prisoner.
A group of inmates were involved in a prison riot on 24 May 2019 in the police station cellblocks in Acarigua, Portuguesa state, Venezuela. The riot allegedly began when inmate Wilfredo Ramos was killed following ten days of protests against the denial of visits by relatives.
The Altamira prison riot occurred on 29 July 2019, when a riot broke out at the Centro de Recuperação Regional de Altamira prison in Altamira, Pará, Brazil due to drug turf disputes between rival gangs within the prison.
A prison riot at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina, United States occurred on April 15, 2018. Starting as a prison cell robbery, violence between prison gangs intensified into a full-blown riot leading to the death of seven prisoners. It was the most violent prison riot in the United States within the last 25 years. On December 3, 2020, 29 Lee Correctional Institution inmates were indicted on murder and mayhem charges by the State of South Carolina.
The Guanare prison riot, also known as the Guanaremassacre, occurred in the Los Llanos prison in Guanare, Portuguesa state, Venezuela, on 1 May 2020. The events caused around 47 deaths, and 75 people were injured.
The Manila City Jail, popularly known as Old Bilibid Prison, is a detention center in Manila, Philippines. The jail is one of the most overcrowded in the world.
