Pavón Prison Explained

Pavon Prison (Granja Penal de Pavón) is a prison in Guatemala. It is located outside the town of Fraijanes near Guatemala City. It is a part of the Dirección General del Sistema Penitenciario de Guatemala.

It was built in the late-1970s and over time it became overcrowded and authorities decided to only control the perimeters of the prison and let the prisoners run the interior on their own. Since 1996, a society developed, with cocaine operations run by Colombian drug lords incarcerated there.

Authorities regain control

On Monday September 25, 2006, 3000 police officers and military forces overran the prison and reestablished authority. This led to the death of seven inmates. Among those killed was Luis Zepeda, a leader of the inmates and the head of the prison government.^[1]

Capital punishment

Pavon Prison houses the Guatemalan death row and an execution chamber to carry out executions by lethal injection.

Executed inmates

• Manuel Martínez Coronado: Mass murderer
• Amílcar Cetino Pérez and Tomás Cerrate Hernández: Convicted of kidnapping and murdering a businesswoman

External links

• "Inmates ran prison for 10 years." Sydney Morning Herald. September 30, 2006.

Notes and References

1. Inter-American Yearbook on Human Rights Page 392 Inter-American Commission on Human Right - 1993 "Another reported incident of mistreatment and torture resulted from the uprising at the "Pavon" prison farm. On 26 March 1989, at 1:00 p.m., a group of over 200 of the 1500 common prisoners held there seized control of the facility. "