Despite official Cuban government reports that argue to the contrary, human rights abuses in Cuban prisons are being slowly documented. The documentation is occurring despite the Cuban government's ban on regular access to its prisons to both domestic and international human rights and humanitarian organizations. The government has never permitted the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cuba to enter the country. In general, human rights organizations documenting abuses in Cuba rely on political dissidents as well as ex-inmates for the specific details on Cuban prison conditions. Through the evidence collected from these individual reports, most human rights organizations agree the Cuban prison system fails to comply with international human rights standards by exposing prisoners to substandard and unhealthy conditions.
Prisoners enter institutions in good health but suffer from malnourishment while detained.
In addition, prisoners often do not receive adequate medical attention. Prisoners regularly face physical and sexual abuse by guards and fellow prisoners. In many prisons, authorities fail to separate minors from adults, and violent criminals from petty criminals and political prisoners, thereby subjecting non-violent prisoners or minors to a more violent environment. According to a June 1999 HRW report on prison conditions in Cuba, prisoners are rarely provided with an adequate diet. Several former prisoners testified that they often were served foul and poorly cleaned food that was both revolting and potentially dangerous to eat.