Inmate Dies in Havana Jail, Possibly From Cholera

Inmate Dies in Havana Jail, Possibly From Cholera / Laritza Diversent
Posted on September 21, 2013

HAVANA, Cuba , September 18, 2013 , www.cubanet.org.- For approximately
15 days, several prisoners complained about cholera cases within the
Combinado del Este prison in Havana. So far the authorities of the
Ministry of Public Health have not reported anything.

Pedro Pablo de Armas Carrero, an inmate who leads a movement called
Inner Reality from Prison (RIDP) ,created on April 9, 2013, in memory of
all prisoners dead from hunger strikes in Cuban prisons, told this
reporter that on Tuesday, September 17, between 7:00 and 8:00 in the
morning, the inmate Iyamil Garcia Benitez, 38, from the town of Parraga,
in Arroyo Naranjo, died in that prison.

Armas Carracedo adds that, when his cellmates asked the guards to help
the sick man, he was already dehydrated and vomiting blood. He also says
that Garcia Benitez Garcia suffered from chronic ulcers.

According to medical investigator Yasser Rojas, the cause of death of
the prisoner may have been hypovolemic shock. The clinical picture could
be complicated both by the bleeding as well as by the dehydration caused
by diarrhea, a symptom of cholera.

According to information received from the prison, on 1 September 14
cases of cholera had been declared among the inmates. Ten of the
contaminated were under observation in the center's center, and four had
been referred to outside hospitals.

Although casual contact with cholera-infected people is not a risk for
becoming ill, in places where there is poor sanitation and overcrowding,
as in Cuban prisons, the disease presents as an epidemic. The pandemic,
when serious, is characterized by profoundly watery diarrhea that can
lead to dehydration.

The inmates at Combinado del Este prison complain that the roofs leak
from the sanitary sewer pipes. The leaks cause dampness in the 12 by 36
foot cells, where up to 36 prisoners live crammed together. The cisterns
are totally contaminated by all kinds of insects and rodents. Inmates
have to store water in jars and buckets. The prison was built in 1966
and has not had any major repairs.

From Cubanet

18 September 2013

Source: "Inmate Dies in Havana Jail, Possibly From Cholera / Laritza
Diversent | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/inmate-dies-in-havana-jail-possibly-from-cholera-laritza-diversent/