Prison Overcrowding

Here is a picture showing the status overcrowding at Haitian prisons.

As per MINUSTAH and the Institute for Criminal Policy Research statistics of December 2015, considering an estimated Haitian population of 10.78 million, prison population rate per 100,000 in the country is 102. Haiti has an official capacity of 2,431 inmates in its 17 prison systems; however, the number of 11,046 detainees translates the occupancy rate to 454.4%. The country boasts the worst overcrowding in the world. The prisoners rarely get any recreational time. They sleep, eat and live in about the space of one-quarter of a twin bed (0.4 square meter space) whereas the international recommended standard is 5.4 square meters of space. Some of the major reasons of overcrowding might be due to the snail-paced legal system, prolonged pre-trial detention (share of pre-trial detainees is 70.9% of the prison population), lack of qualified health personnel and insufficient budgetary allocations. Large numbers of the prison inmates spend more time in prison than the jail term they receive after trial.

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Haitian prisons are among the worst world-wide. Inmates are afflicted with lack of nutrition, mental disorders, and heart-related conditions.

Health and Human Rights in Prisons Project is an advocacy group, seeking to change conditions in the prison system. They provide healthcare services and legal aid to assure prisoners' cases are being properly handled by the Haitian justice system.

They insure medical treatment is consistent with good-care standards, and prison officials are informed about any transgressions of inmates' human rights.

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Prisons in Haiti possess some of the worst living conditions. Inmates are packed closely into a single room, where they huddle together on a cement floor. With no room to stretch out, they are forced to sleep in shifts. Their diets consist of gruel and little else.

They suffer from poor nutrition, mental ailments, and the possibility of heart attacks. They live in filth, occasionally hosed down. Their human rights are ignored and they are left to perish.

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Nearly 5000 Haitian criminals are being held in a building originally built in the 1930's and meant for only 1,500 inmates. The situation at Haiti's National Penitentiary is much the same in the country's other prisons. The overcrowding makes preserving order an uphill battle. A system of rotation allows officials to stop gangs from reforming within the walls, but the problem is exacerbated by delays in the judicial system. Many of the inmates are being held pending trials that may take many months to come.

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