In a revelation that is causing further embarrassment to the prison authorities, it was announced yesterday that 240 prisoners had disappeared from La Victoria prison. It appears that rather than having escaped unnoticed, the prisoners could have been transferred to other jails without the judicial authorities being notified. This practice was criticized by Attorney General Victor C?spedes Mart?nez, who ordered the prisoners to be tracked down so that judicial processes could continue. This comes in a week where conditions in Dominican prisons are under scrutiny. The Puerto Rican press is taking a great interest in the matter due to the prolonged incarceration of Laura Hern?ndez, a Puerto Rican media celebrity on remand for drug trafficking in Higuey prison. The latest development, according to today’s Diario Libre, is that Puerto Rico’s lawyers’ association and Human Rights Committee are making an official complaint to Amnesty International about the ‘sub-human’ conditions they believe Hern?ndez and her associates, as well as the rest of the prisoners have to endure.