Overview
- Videos and NGO accounts show hundreds of inmates climbing onto roofs, burning mattresses and raising 'SOS' banners in a protest that escalated at the Internado Judicial de Barinas on May 24.
- Prisoners demand the removal of newly appointed director Elvis Macuare Guerrero and accuse staff of beatings, violent cell searches, restrictions on visits and confiscation of personal items.
- Human-rights groups and inmate footage allege custodial staff fired on protesters and that National Guard elements entered the facility and used tear gas, with some detainees reported wounded.
- The Public Prosecutor's Office dispatched prosecutors to the jail and opened an official probe while authorities have not released a full public accounting of casualties or an operational narrative.
- The episode fits a pattern of chronic problems in Venezuela's prisons — including overcrowding, isolation and delayed justice — and could prompt wider oversight depending on the Fiscalía's findings.