Overcrowded and unsanitary, Venezuela's prisons brace for coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: Inmates gather on the roof of the prison of the National Bolivarian Police during a riot in Caracas, Venezuela April 27, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

CARACAS (Reuters) - The arrival of coronavirus in Venezuela is fuelling concerns the disease could spread like a fast-moving fire through the country's notoriously overcrowded and unsanitary prisons.

Venezuela's inmate population swelled during a decade-long surge in crime, overwhelming prisons and leading many police stations to convert temporary holding cells into ersatz jails where the accused can spend months or years awaiting trial.