Through a law proposition , the Office of Citizen Protection (OPC), the Correctional Unit of the Minustah and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) aim to improve life in Haiti's prisons.

The idea of this law came from the Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP) with the support of the Correctional Unit of the UN Mission, which convinced UNDP to provide the necessary funding. The text was edited by a group of experts. This text of 136 articles provides for the transformation of the DAP into the "Central Directorate of Penitentiary Administration" (DCAP), which will allow the emergence of five sub-directorates.

For Sandra Honoré, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Haiti and Civilian Head of the Minustah, this draft law "is intended to create the basis for a reform of the Haitian penitentiary system and should eventually allow the establishment of a secure, humane and modern penitentiary system," and to identify three priority axes in particular putting "an emphasis on human rights."

The new law in preparation sets out the destinations of people arrested according to age, sex, and punishment. Thus, the remand centers and central correction centers are intended for defendants and accused and prisoners sentenced to simple penal The new law in preparation sets out the destinations of people arrested according to age, sex, and punishment. Thus, the remand centers and central correction centers are intended for defendants and accused and prisoners sentenced to simple Those sentenced to forced labor and imprisonment will be held in the central houses (Article 10 et seq.).

"The people that the society puts in prison have rights," said Sandra Honoré, recalling that this law proposition sets out rules of conduct for prison staff, as well as article 61, prohibiting all employees, agents and any person to have access to detention facilities to engage in "physical or verbal abuse of detainees" in return the prisoners "must observe and respect the provisions of the internal rules of the prisons."

According to Florence Elie, the Protector of the Citizen the penitentiary law which she proposes to the Haitian legislator was born of the observation of "the overpopulation of the prisons, of damage to illegal pre-trial detention and abuses, among others."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20013-haiti-flash-nightmare-at-the-national-penitentiary.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19870-haiti-flash-new-wave-of-deaths-at-the-national-penitentiary.html

HL/ HaitiLibre