|
Honduras THE PENAL SYSTEM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Penal System
Honduras has two penal systems--one for females and
another for
males. The female system is connected administratively to
the
National Board of Social Welfare (Junta Nacional de
Bienestar
Social), which has authority over the Female Center of
Social
Adaptation (Centro Femenino de Adaptación Social--Cefas),
all of
which forms part of the Ministry of Work (Ministerio de
Trabajo).
The National Directorate of Penal Establishments
(Dirección
Nacional de Establecimientos Penales), which is under the
authority
of the Ministry of Government and Justice (Ministerio de
Governación y Justicia), is responsible for the national
penitentiary and department and local jails that house
male
inmates. Both systems are regulated in accordance with the
Law of
Criminal Rehabilitation (Decree Law Number 173-84), in
effect since
March 1985; the constitution of 1982; and the penal code
adopted in
1983, which replaced the outdated 1906 code.
Generally, inmates serving prison sentences of three
years or
more are assigned to the national penitentiary in
Tegucigalpa,
inmates with prison sentences of less than three years but
more
than ninety days are assigned to a department jail;
sentences of
ninety days or less are carried out in local jails. In
1986 the
penal system housed a total of 3,635 inmates; of these,
only 57
were female. Most female inmates--regardless of the length
of their
prison sentences--are incarcerated in the Cefas
penitentiary near
Tegucigalpa. One department jail is located in each of the
eighteen
departments, except for El Paraíso, which has two, and
Francisco
Morazán, which has none.
Prison facilities in Honduras are overcrowded, and
services are
inadequate to meet the needs of all inmates. Lighting,
ventilation,
and sanitary conditions in most cases are poor. Medical
and
psychiatric care is poor to nonexistent. Inmates can order
medicine
from outside the institution but must find their own means
to pay
for it. Inmates also must supply their own clothing,
towels, soap,
and other toiletries. Television, sport, and other
recreation
facilities are not provided, except at Cefas. Conjugal
privileges
are allowed, however, and some inmates receive basic
literacy
instruction. The daily diet for inmates is rice, beans,
tortillas,
and coffee. Individual inmates commonly bribe guards and
prison
administrators for better food and other amenities.
Data as of December 1993
|
