human rights

Gordon welcomes prison inspection

Panama’s prison system has fallen under international scrutiny for alleged human rights violations.

LA PRENSA

luis gordon996413

"We have nothing to conceal from the country, much less the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights."

Those were the words of Luis Gordon, director of the Sistema Penitenciario, who spoke yesterday about a proposed inspection by commission officials.

Gordon said he welcomed the scrutiny because it would allow the visitors to see the realities that he faces in running Panama's penal institutions.

"They will be able to verify that we are making an effort to solve the problems we face," he said. "We are part of the international community, and we recognize that human rights do not have borders."

The commission, which is an extension of the Organization of American States, heard a petition last week by several agencies that want an investigation into conditions at Panama's prisons.

Gordon disagreed with one of the points raised during the hearing, that prisoners at El Renacer had paid for the priviledge of being detained there.

"It is false to say that inmates at El Renacer had to pay to be there," Gordon said. "The only factor that we use is the security risk posed by individual prisoners."

The petition to the court included a report researched by students at Harvard University.

Gordon, however, said the report mischaracterized the conditions at Panama's prisons becuase it was done at a time when 60 cells were closed because of a prison riot. He added that while overcrowding is a problem at the country's prisons, it isn't nearly as bad as the conditions witnessed by the students.

The Inter-American Court on Human Rights heard testimony from a consortium of human rights groups about Panama’s prison system last Friday.

Those organizations, which have concluded that Panama's prisons are rampant with abuses, such as overcrowding, lack of sanitation and an absence of proper medical care, have asked the commission to conduct its own investigation of the country’s penal system..