CARACAS, Venezuela — Sixty-eight people have died in a prison riot in northern Venezuela, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said late Wednesday.
Initial reports had said that five people had died when inmates at a detention center at the regional police headquarters in Carabobo state took a guard hostage and set fire to mattresses.
However, Saab said in a series of tweets that the dead comprised 66 men and two women, who were visiting the prison overnight.
An investigation would be launched immediately to clarify what had happened, he added, saying that four prosecutors had already been assigned to the case.
The cells at the police headquarters are used as a temporary jail, from where detainees are taken to court to be sentenced.
The nongovernmental organization Una Ventana a la Libertad (A Window to Freedom), which campaigns for prison reform in Venezuela, blamed the Ministry of Corrections and the minister responsible, Iris Valera, for the deaths.
The country’s regional police were in a state of chaos due to the ministry’s negligence, spokesman Carlos Nieto Palma said, and prison conditions were poor.
“This is serious and alarming,” he said. “What happened today is a sign (of poor prison conditions) … and it is experienced throughout Venezuela.”
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