▁in m ates ▁and ▁ 1 4 ▁visitors . ▁ ▁Background ▁Venezuela ' s ▁prison ▁system ▁is ▁heavily ▁over c row ded ; ▁its ▁facilities ▁have ▁capacity ▁for ▁only ▁ 1 4 , 0 0 0 ▁prisoners , ▁yet ▁house ▁over ▁ 5 0 , 0 0 0 ▁in m ates . ▁More ▁than ▁ 3 0 0 ▁prisoners ▁die ▁every ▁year , ▁and ▁not ▁all ▁of ▁it ▁is ▁due ▁to ▁over c row ding . ▁Pr ison ers ▁have ▁easy ▁access ▁to ▁machine ▁guns , ▁gr en ades , ▁and ▁n arc ot ics . ▁According ▁to ▁the ▁Venez uel an ▁Pr isons ▁Observ atory , ▁in ▁the ▁first ▁half ▁of ▁ 2 0 1 2 ▁cl ash es ▁between ▁prison ▁gang s ▁left ▁ 3 0 4 ▁dead ▁– ▁a ▁ 1 5 % ▁increase ▁from ▁the ▁same ▁period ▁last ▁year . ▁ ▁Following ▁the ▁ 2 0 1 1 ▁ri ots ▁in ▁El ▁R ode o ▁I ▁and ▁El ▁R ode o ▁II ▁pr isons , ▁where ▁do z ens ▁of ▁in m ates ▁were ▁killed ▁respectively , ▁President ▁Hugo ▁Ch á vez ▁announced ▁a ▁program ▁to ▁reduce ▁the ▁violence ▁and ▁the ▁over c row ding ▁in ▁Venezuela ' s ▁prison ▁systems . ▁ ▁With ▁an ▁up coming ▁president ial ▁election , ▁the ▁prison ▁cha os ▁in ▁Venezuela ▁was ▁a ▁polit ically ▁sensitive ▁issue ▁for ▁Venezuela ' s ▁president . ▁Ch á vez ▁bl amed ▁the ▁past ▁reg imes ▁before ▁he ▁took ▁office ▁in ▁ 1 9 9 9 ▁for