CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) —More than 100 female prisoners have been transferred from a Venezuelan detention centre after inmates took over the facility in a prison uprising, an independent observer group said Monday.

A prison official informed family members of “the complete evacuation of the 112 women” though she did not specify where they were being taken, according to Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP).

The official also said that “men would be transferred voluntarily and that judges and prosecutors would arrive at the prison to set up a technical committee” for a review of cases, OVP said in a post on X.

Dozens of families waited anxiously Monday outside the prison in the western city of Barinas, where hundreds of prisoners burned mattresses and sheets on Monday and gathered on the roof, unfurling banners that read “No more torture.”

A group of inmates remained on the prison towers at daybreak Monday, the NGO said.

On Sunday, OVP said that 1,200 men and more than 100 women incarcerated in the facility, some 500 kilometres from Caracas had “gone on strike” at the prison.

The inmates “claim to have been victims of beatings and torture,” the group stated.

Authorities have yet to comment on the riot.

For years, activists have criticised overcrowding, violence, limited food and a lack of medical care inside Venezuelan prisons. In April, the government confirmed the deaths of five people during a riot at the high-security Yare III prison near Caracas.

Venezuela has released hundreds of political detainees since US forces captured autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro in a stunning raid on the capital Caracas on January 3.

The landmark amnesty law, which was adopted in February, is one of the most significant reforms passed by Maduro’s successor Delcy Rodriguez, under pressure from Washington.

Some Venezuelans have expressed frustration at the pace of the releases.