Caracas, Jan 3 (IANS/EFE) Five people accused of rape and other sexual offences against minors in Venezuela were murdered in their prison cells by other inmates, officials said.
Police in the western state of Tachira said those responsible for the killing were not identified.
Inside the prison, which holds about 2,000 inmates, attacks on prisoners accused of sexual crimes are relatively frequent, police said.
An independent organisation, the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, said that between Jan 1 and Oct 30, 2011, a total of 487 prisoners were murdered in the country’s 34 jails, compared to 476 inmates murdered during 2010.
Venezuela’s prison system has been hit by overcrowding. The 34 jails house 44,520 inmates, although they were built to hold only 14,500 people.
