Loose lips sink ships, but stitched lips hurt like a bitch. (Story credit to Reuters.)
A group of Venezuelan prisoners stitched their lips together as part of a protest hunger strike to press their demands to be transferred to another wing of their prison, authorities said on Wednesday.
"They just used a few stitches, it was very superficial," Prison Services director Gen. Fabio Figueredeo told Reuters. He could not give the exact number of inmates who took part in the protest on Tuesday at Tocuyito prison in Carabobo state, west of Caracas.
The Caracas daily El Universal reported a total of 48 Tocuyito inmates "sewed their mouths up." Figueredeo said the prisoners were persuaded by authorities to end their protest. He played down the significance of their injuries, saying it was quite common for inmates to mutilate themselves to try to force officials to accept their demands.
Venezuela's 25 prisons are considered by human rights groups to be among the worst in the world. Deaths and injuries, usually the result of violent gang fights, are common.
Figueredo said the hunger strikers were part of a group of around 60 inmates who were demanding to be transferred out of an administration block where they were temporarily housed. He described them as "refugees," prisoners who had been forcibly driven out of the prison's normal accommodation section by other inmates. Some, for example, may have been accused of stealing from fellow prisoners, he said.
Authorities estimate two or three inmates a week die violent deaths in Venezuela's jails. Officials say pistols, knives, drugs and even mobile phones are frequently smuggled in by visitors. President Hugo Chavez' government has announced an emergency program to modernize the country's penitentiaries, including the planned construction of five or six new jails.
I wonder if they got the idea from that lady who sewed her kid's mouth shut? (See Stitched Mouth)