ARTICLE - PETIT-GOAVE - PRISON HEALTH

CRITICAL HEALTH SITUATION FOR THE INMATES OF PETIT-GOAVE
(Haiti Libre) -

Thursday, June 28, 2012, Gracia Junel, a detainee of the police station of Petit-Goâve, died from lack of health care. Many other prisoners, especially young people, are in poor health, and many are sick.

In the absence of a civil prison in Petit-Goâve, people are held in two cells at the police station. Several factors contribute to this deplorable situation:

- Lack of health care in the absence of a physician;

- Overcrowding: 160 prisoners are locked in rooms designed for 60 people;

- The lack of sanitary maintenance of premises;

- The poor physical condition of inmates, linked to serious nutritional deficiency.

It should be noted that the majority of prisoners come from Léogâne, Grand-Goâve and especially Trouin. Most are in prolonged pretrial detention, some for several months and were never heard by a judge.

For their part, the police officers of the police station are worried for their health, because of the deplorable sanitary condition of the premises, odors and the risk of contamination.

It is urgent that the authorities address this situation and that the construction of a civil prison be built with more room. The police station of Petit Goâve is unable to receive other inmates...

According to the latest information received by the editorial staff of HaitiLibre, on the insistence of the police commissioner of Petit-Goâve, Mr. Walman Cetoute, the government commissioner of the jurisdiction of Petit-Goâve, Me Jean Alix Civil, 6 detainees are seriously ill for several months, and who had been detained for theft (banana, cement, beef) have been released, 8 others have been rushed to the Hopital Notre-Dame of Petit-Goâve this Friday, June 29, 2012 around 7am.