Stuart Leiderman leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: leiderman fwd: "nightmares at the national penitentiary"
A friend just forwarded me the link to HaitiLibre's article today [below]
concerning the national penitentiary in the capital. Knowing that a
delegation of Haitian-American leaders are sponsoring a reception tonight
at the Marriott Hotel for the president-elect who, I understand, has
allotted a million dollars for his inauguration later this week, I hope
they will hand him this article and voice their alarm and outrage. And I
hope the physicians among the Diaspora delegation will visit the
penitentiary while they are in the country.
The world knows what "Haiti" is all about. The poor boat people are
nothing compared to a whole country that is (still) a veritable
slave-ship.
- - - - - - -
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20013-haiti-flash-nightmare-at-the-national-penitentiary.html
Haiti - FLASH : Nightmare at the National Penitentiary...
05/02/2017 10:58:54
At the National Penitentiary of Port-au-Prince has a capacity of 778
prisoners, at a rate of 2.25 m per prisoner below international
standards which sets the minimum area per prisoner at 4.50 m2. However,
in reality because of prison overcrowding, in January 2017, the National
Penitentiary had 4.257 prisoners, each with less than half a square
meter of living space !
Note that only 548 prisoners in this prison are convicted and that all
other prisoners are held in preventive detention without trial, some
have been waiting for several years...
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13410-haiti-justice-haitian-penitentiary-system-welcome-to-hell.html
The detainees live in disreputable conditions: there is no toilet in the
cells forcing prisoners to use polystyrene containers and throwing them
out of the windows, no lighting, no ventilation. The overpopulation is
such that it is not uncommon for 4 detainees to share a bunk...
In addition to the shortage of food the water is unsuitable and causes
skin diseases: itch, scabies etc.... and intestinal: diarrhea and
cholera. In addition, the presence of rats and various insects in the
cells, promote the spread of certain diseases, as a result that healthy
inmates often fall ill...
In addition, penitentiary staff are understaffed and can not guarantee
the safety of prisoners who are confronted with everyday violence. Only
about forty agents each day, an agent for 112 detainees while the
international standards are of an agent for 4 detainees...
Several prisoners, already weakened by the conditions of detention and
the physical environment of the prison, died of disorders due inter alia
to malnutrition
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19870-haiti-flash-new-wave-of-deaths-at-the-national-penitentiary.html
Number of detainees who died in 2016: January (8); February (10); March
(6); April (2); May (2); June (0); July (6); August (5); September (3);
October (1); November (4); (13). In 2017: Until January (14)
Between 1 and 19 January there is an increase in deaths from previous
months. The causes of the deaths, declared by the authorities of the
prison for January 2017 are: anemia, severe anemia, cardiorespiratory
arrest, respiratory distress, pulmonary tuberculosis, hypovolemic shock
and gastroenteritis...
Today, 30 detainees are currently in a state that could cause their
deaths in the next few days due to conditions of detention and food
rationing due to non-payment of inputs by the Directorate of Prison
Administration (DAP), in particular since last December. Stock shortages
and delays in condiment payments have had serious repercussions on the
health of prisoners.
Numerous steps have been taken by the National Penitentiary with the DAP
but they have remained unsuccessful so far and the alarming situation
in which prisoners live now becomes chronic and critical...
See also :
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19870-haiti-flash-new-wave-of-deaths-at-the-national-penitentiary.html
http://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-18727-icihaiti-justice-the-national-penitentiary-of-death.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13410-haiti-justice-haitian-penitentiary-system-welcome-to-hell.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8898-haiti-justice-95-of-inmates-atnational-penitentiary-are-incarcerated-without-trial.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8229-haiti-justice-7-188-persons-in-preventive-detention.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1669-haiti-justice-aberrations-of-the-haitian-judicial-system.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1112-haiti-prisons-national-penitentiary-05-m2-per-inmate.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/article-1069-haiti-prison-rehabilitation-de-la-prison-de-port-au-prince.html
(in french)
TB/ HaitiLibre
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