DR: 15,717 Prisoners Await Trial

February 29, 2024 Hour: 7:58 pm

On Thursday, official sources informed that jurists and university professors ask judges and prosecutors to stop abusive and excessive use of preventive detention as the main coercive measure.

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In the New Prison Model by 2020 there were 5,567 pre-trial detainees, while in the Traditional Model there were a total of 10,761.

By 2021 there were a total of 6,174 pre-trial detainees in the New Model, while in the Traditional Model there were 10,118 pre-trial detainees.

While in 2022, in the New and Traditional Model there were a total of 15,310 pre-trial detainees, in 2023, there were 15,442 pre-trial detainees.

Meanwhile, in 2024, in both the new and traditional models, the number of pre-trial detainees increased to 15,717, 59.54%, out of a total of 26,396 inmates nationwide.

#ActualidadEN | El encargado de asuntos civiles y políticos de la Comisión de los Derechos Humanos dominicana, Juan Miguel Rondón, dijo que en las cárceles se presentan “constantes violaciones de los derechos humanos”. https://t.co/2WKn6mKTRE #CárcelesRD #ElNacionalDigitalRD

— El Nacional (@ElNacionalRD)
February 29, 2024

The tweet reads, “The person in charge of civil and political affairs of the Dominican Human Rights Commission, Juan Miguel Rondón, said that in prisons there are “constant violations of human rights.”

These levels are causing much concern among jurists and university professors, who are asking judges and prosecutors to stop abusive and excessive use of pre-trial detention.

The report prepared by Manuel Antonio Acosta Polanco, in charge of the statistics division, also highlights that in 2022 there were 10,401 prisoners with convictions, in 2023 a total of 10,755 prisoners with sentences and in 2024 to date a total of 10,679 convictions.

The director of the National Public Defense Office, Rodolfo Valentin Santos, has described as “alarming” the number of pre-trial detainees in the country, since 60 percent of the inmates are awaiting a definitive sentence, after pointing out that the prison population is currently overcrowded.

He indicated that the excess of preventive imprisonment, which is the most burdensome coercive measure, has become in the Dominican judicial system an anticipated penalty, in addition to the fact that it contributes to prison overpopulation.

“It is the non-applicability of the norm or of the Criminal Procedural Code, we have unfortunately a deficient process, we have officials afraid to comply with the law”, indicated Valentin Santos-.

He pointed out that at present Dominican prisons are overcrowded, which makes it difficult to guarantee the rights of the inmates.

According to a study by the Ombudsman, 30 percent of the prison population has heart problems, eye diseases, sickle cell disease and 20 percent suffer from mental health problems; 10 percent from kidney disease, 8 percent from diabetes, 5 percent from tuberculosis and 3 percent from HIV, an alarming fact that half of the prison population does not receive care.