Haiti gov't creates commission to probe prison conditions

Haiti gov't creates commission to probe prison conditions


1 photo
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti announced a new government commission on Friday to probe the country's prisons and other overcrowded lockups and make recommendations to improve desperate conditions for inmates.

President Jovenel Moise, who was sworn in earlier this month as Haiti's leader for the next five years, announced the creation of the nine-member commission on Friday. The panel will have a month to finish its review and submit a report.

"Under my presidency, the Haitian nation will by no means ignore what seems to be a flagrant violation, even a contempt for the right to life that every individual should have, regardless of where he lives," Moise said in a late Friday statement.

The presidential announcement came a few days after The Associated Press published an exclusive report on an upsurge of inmate deaths, including 21 last month at the country's biggest prison, due in large part to malnutrition-related illnesses and other preventable diseases.

An AP team saw a corpse and emaciated men with sunken cheeks and protruding ribs at the infirmary at Haiti's severely overcrowded National Penitentiary, which houses some 40 percent of the country's inmates in squalid conditions.

Prisoners were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in cellblocks so overcrowded they are forced to sleep in makeshift hammocks suspended from the ceiling or squeeze four to a bunk. New arrivals jostle for space on filthy floors where inmates on lockdown 22 hours a day must defecate into plastic bags in the absence of latrines.

Conditions are also appalling at other Haitian lockups, including severely overcrowded and unsanitary pens at several police stations.

Most of those incarcerated in Haiti have not been convicted of a crime but are held in prolonged pretrial detention, often for years, waiting for a chance to see a judge.

Haiti's penal system is by far the globe's most congested, with a staggering 454 percent occupancy level, according to the most recent ranking by the University of London's Institute for Criminal Policy Research.

Prison authorities told the AP that they try their best to meet inmates' needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel, leading to deadly cases of malnutrition-related ailments such as beriberi and anemia.

U.N. Special Representative Sandra Honore said this week that 42 detainee deaths so far this year are linked to "the worsening of cruel, inhuman and degrading" conditions.

___

David McFadden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dmcfadd

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
DAVID McFADDEN

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast