Haiti - Epidemic : Cholera makes victims in the prisons
After the death, last month, of 5 prisoners to the Civil prison of Hinche (of the cholera), it is the turn of the National Penitentiary to be affected by the cholera epidemic. In recent days, four prisoners died, reported a spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH), indicating that more than ten others presented all the symptoms of the cholera.
The National Penitentiary, principal prison of the capital, houses 1.469 inmates (figure of October 2010) with sub human living conditions, compared to that, the life is good in the IDP camps. Danielle Boisvert, who heads the correctional unit of MINUSTAH since June 1st, 2010 was declared in September "On average, each prisoner has access to less than 1 m2 and in certain prisons such as the National Penitentiary, they have less than 0.5 m2. In less than one half-m2 a person cannot sleep wide nor even squatted" ideal conditions for the spread of cholera.
Yolanda Marie-Gilles, of the Haitian Network for the Defence of Human Rights alerted the authorities about the situation of detainees, while the disease has made its entry into the prisons. "Patients are being treated by the Red Cross in the prison infirmary" she confirmed. In the hell of prison, now it gets worse : cholera.
