• Submitted by: lena campos
• Society
• 05 / 03 / 2013

---

Proportionately, Cuba has one of the highest prison populations in the world

One of Cuba's most notorious high-security facilities, its 3,000 beds have been used by everyone from convicted killers to those punished for their political views.

Usually closed to outside scrutiny, the prison recently allowed foreign journalists through its doors for the first time in almost a decade, ahead of a Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

At the entrance to a cellblock we were given paper flowers, handmade by inmates.

There were more of them inside, their petals resting on neatly-made bunk-beds.

First time inside
And as we peered in, a group of prisoners in the corridor burst into song.

The cells we saw were clean but cramped, with three men to each.


So far, they've treated us ok”

In one, a detainee drew back the plastic curtain to reveal a combined shower and toilet tray. There was no running water, though that is common in Cuba.

The government sets no limit on pre-trial detention and the men said many on their wing had been waiting for trial for more than a year.

"This is my first time inside," 46-year-old Eduardo told me. Accused of an "economic crime", he had been waiting 17 months for his case to come to court.

"So far, they've treated us ok," he shrugged.

"I was just carrying a few grams of marijuana," his cellmate Nelson protested, saying that prosecutors were demanding an eight-year sentence.

"It's tough," he says, but Cuba's government has a zero-tolerance policy on drugs.

Proportionately, communist Cuba has one of the highest prison populations in the world, with over 57,000 inmates spread across 200 facilities in a country of 11.3 million people.

Officials say they are now trying to reduce the number sent to Cuba's five maximum-security jails - currently around half of all detainees - by extending the use of lower-security prisons.

'Undesirable elements'
Our second stop was La Lima. Labelled a "centre for work and study", it consists of a series of converted military warehouses that opened as a prison in 2009.

Just outside its gates, I met a murderer helping to build a block of flats.

Source: BBC.co.uk