And judges are being reviewed for corruption, with several hundred already having been thrown out. Mr. Moncada notes that before, police could arrest a suspect who could be held up to 100 days during an investigation without any formal charge. Now a suspect can only be held 48 hours before either being charged and seeing a judge, or being released. And anyone formally charged has a right to legal representation, a principle rarely enforced in the past. That's why so many have been let out.
Experts say Venezuela's prisons, although less crowded now, are still no bed of roses.
This year 120 prisoners have been killed, which is not much better on an annual basis than the 256 average annual deaths since 1994. Even though less crowded, the prisons remain violent primarily because inmates have little or no access to educational and trade programs, according to a group of non-governmental groups working together to monitor the penal reform. According to the organization, the average prisoner spends 90 percent of his time creating arms such as makeshift knifes and even small bombs. What they aren't telling nervous Venezuelans is how long they have to wait before those frightening weekend crime statistics start falling. The Christian Science Publishing Society.