Haiti - Social : Hell in the National Penitentiary
In addition to the phenomenon of prolonged pretrial detention, prisoners have less than 2 square meters, which can not simultaneously sleep, for lack of space, exposing them to infectious diseases like tuberculosis... the family must provide food and hygiene kits, detainees lack of privacy, facilities are unsanitary, overcrowded buildings, the violence daily... Remember that this prison was built for 800 inmates at the time.
Despite all the efforts to date of the Minister of Justice, Pierre-Richard Casimir: multiplication of criminal hearings and correctional and special hearings as part of "Operation Punch", the problem of prolonged pretrial detention remains, not only it not decreased but increased !
For Clamé Ocnam Daméus, the Government Commissioner, control of detainees should start in police stations where Justices of the Peace could hear people in custody and return those who have been arrested arbitrarily or illegally.
"The United Nations recognize a set of minimum rules for treatment of prisoners [...] each prisoner must have 4.5 m2 in the prison space, and 1 agent for 4 prisoners. The total prison population is of 11,484 inmates, while the majority of them is in prolonged pretrial detention and awaiting trial," indicated Yolène Marie Gilles, program manager at the National Human rights Network (RNDDH ).
