Shooting and deaths in jails and sniping between ministers

Not for the first time Security Minister, José Raúl Mulino,  and Interior Minister Roxana Méndez have been taking pot shots at each other for events causing deaths inside state prisons.

This time Mulino, regarded as s ecurity strongman, has placed the blame for the current prison crisis on his Government colleague, who, he says, has the full responsibility for criminal acts taking place in the state’s penitentiaries.

“It is her responsibility to fix what is happening inside the prisons," he said.

Méndez said the shooting on Friday, April 1 at the La Joyita prison, where an inmate was killed and 19 others were wounded, is a reflection of the "high degree of police corruption" that exists in prisons.

Earlier in the year five inmates were killed  and two seriously burned in a juvenile detention center in Tocumen, after  police fired tear gas canisters, intended for outdoor use only, into a  cell. Police failed to assist prisoners screaming for help, and some were filmes refusing to allow firement to douse the flames. One policeman was filmed yelling"Die".  A group of police are facing homicide charges arising out of the incident. The police were withdrawn from the Tocumen center and Mulino quickly passed the buck to Mendez.

Mulino, claims that the prison crisis  is a comprehensive problem, as there are shared responsibilities and complicity between police, civil guards, and relatives of the inmates leading to the introduction of weapons, drugs, cell phones, and other prohibited items into the centers.

According to Mulino, the internal crisis in the prisons has exploded for many reasons, citing as an example the fact that current prison authorities have not been able to implement an effective reclassification of inmates.
 
"Members of different gangs are mixed in with each other and thatbcreates violence," he said.

During the fun and knife fight  in la Joyita, the police on duty said they were unable to stop the battle because guns were being used.

 Méndez  has made an appointment with Police Chief, Gustavo Pérez, who recently denied corruption within the police force,  to request the replacement of all police officers in prisons something that  Mulino had previously said would be done by July.

She warned that every day  more guns  are introduced into the prisons and despite  police searches inmates are still finding ways to get weapons in.

Civil rights groups and participants in the 2010 demonstrations in Bocas Del Toro, where police killed and wounder protestors, have previously called for the ousting of Mulino.