Last week, the Dominican Republic’s National Public Defense Office (ONDP) released its 2023 Prison and Detention Report, which further revealed the dire conditions inmates face while in the country’s penitentiary system. The report underscored a deteriorating situation that is “far from improving” at the hands of the government, according to Rodolfo Valentín, Director of the ONDP.
The ONDP report provides a clear depiction of the “deplorable confinement conditions” through an extensive collection of photographic evidence, vividly illustrating the inhumane conditions Dominican inmates experience daily.
Extreme overcrowding only exacerbates these conditions. The report confirms that the DR’s penitentiary system houses over 26,000 inmates, despite having a capacity for only 12,000. The ONDP has identified severe overcrowding as a primary cause of widespread human rights violations in DR prisons.
Prison overcrowding, in turn, is caused by preventive detention, as identified by the Dominican National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH-DR). Listin Diario has reported that the Public Ministry requested preventive detention orders for 98% of all coercive measures in the first four months of 2024, violating Dominican law by making preventive detention the norm rather than the “exception,” as some claim.
Inmates are packed into “small, schooner-like” cells which often lack basic amenities, including windows, adequate ventilation, and proper bedding. Reports indicate that some cells hold up to 74 inmates, compelling them to create makeshift living spaces in corridors. Many are forced to sleep on the floor.
The ONDP cited additional concerns such as the intense accumulation of sewage, widespread disease, shortage of medical supplies and care, and recurring reports of inmate physical abuse.
The ONDP 2023 report is the latest addition to a growing series of international and domestic condemnations of the DR’s justice system. Under the supervision of the Public Ministry, the system has blatantly exhibited disregard for human rights.
Domestic and International Recognition
Various human rights organizations, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, have also detailed pervasive abuse of human rights within the DR. They cite grave concerns over a humanitarian crisis that seemingly has no end in sight.
Continued Whitewashing from DR Officials
Despite growing condemnation, the Dominican Republic continues to whitewash its human rights violations. The government claims that any reports on these abuses are “extreme exaggerations” which do not “reflect the current reality of human rights in the Dominican Republic.” Such claims are typically followed by performative gestures and vague promises that the government is addressing these issues. Roberto Hernández, the General Director of Penitentiary and Correctional Services (DGSPC), recently stated that “every day, joint work is carried out to improve and clean up penitentiary facilities throughout the country.” In February, Hernández flaunted a booklet at an IACHR hearing, which he claimed was a government proposal for prison reforms. To this day, neither the contents of the booklet, nor any proposed government reforms, have been made public.
The Public Ministry has vehemently rejected calls from Valentín to exclude the Public Ministry from the penitentiary system, instead arguing that a “clear, precise, and comprehensive law” must be created to address the rights abuses plaguing the penitentiary system. If that is the case, then guaranteeing basic human rights for those in the judicial system must also be included in the proposed constitutional reforms by the executive branch.