Listin Diario, a leading daily paper in the Dominican Republic, reports that the Dominican Public Ministry requested preventive detention orders in 98% of all coercive measures (i.e. before charges were filed) during the first four months of 2024. This is not only a clear violation of Dominican law but of international standards on human rights and due process.

According to Dominican criminal procedural law, preventive detention before charges are filed can only be used in limited and extreme circumstances, when there is: 1) a demonstrable flight risk; or 2) evidence the individual has obstructed an investigation or intends to do so.  However, Listin Diario reports that prosecutors use preventive detention merely for convenience rather than following the law, applying an illegal “98% rule” to seek preventive detention in nearly all cases where they fail to file charges.

Recently, Dominican Attorney General Míriam Germán Brito criticized the Public Ministry’s misuse of preventive detention during her departure announcement. She reiterated that preventive detention should be the “exception” rather than standard practice of the Public Ministry.

More broadly, the misuse of preventative detention is clearly not a recent issue. It is a systemic practice entrenched in the Dominican justice system in violation of due process and other human rights standards.

Dominican Style Justice

Currently, 80% of prisoners in the DR are held under preventive detention according to the Dominican National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH-DR). Many of these detainees are held between “three and 18 months…. with some detentions reportedly lasting years” before ever being formally charged or even being issued a court date, as reported in the U.S. State Department 2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in the Dominican Republic.

This places the DR among the top countries in the world for the use of preventive detention, alongside the Central African Republic and Gabon.

Collapsing DR Prison System

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has identified preventive detention as the primary driver behind ongoing human rights violations in the Dominican Republic’s prison system. Due to the pervasive use of preventive detention, Dominican prison centers—originally designed for 12,000 inmates—now hold 26,000 detainees, many of whom have been denied due process.

This year alone has seen several deadly incidents from overcrowding with prisons in Higüey, La Victoria, Samaná, and Barahona experiencing riots and fires resulting in fatalities. Furthermore, reports of inhumane prison conditions are rampant, highlighting issues such as denial of medical care, physical abuse, and lack of basic necessities.

As Míriam Germán Brito approaches her departure, the next Attorney General of the Dominican Republic must reverse the Public Ministry’s rampant violations of Dominican law and human rights standards, or the condemnations of these abuses will only intensify.