Haitian authorities say this month they released eight people detained at various prisons, including one person who had been incarcerated in “preventive detention” for three years without ever going on trial for having stolen a cell phone.
The South-East Departmental Direction (DDSE) of the Office of the Protection of the Citizen (OPC) said as part of its fight against prolonged pre-trial detention, it had on March 20th become aware of the unidentified person incarcerated at the prison in Jacmel, a commune in southern Haiti, over the theft of the phone.
Three days later, a team from the Departmental Direction South (DDS) of the OPC in collaboration with the judicial authorities of Les Cayes, released seven detainees who had been in prolonged preventive detention.
“These releases were made after careful analysis of their cases by a Committee for combating prolonged pre-trial detention, composed of the DDS of the OPC, a representative of the Civil Society, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of First Instance (TPI) OF Les Cayes,” according to an official statement issued here.
The statement gave no details regarding the identities of those detained, but last month, figures released by the Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP), noted that on average 74 per cent of those detained were men, with 82 per cent of women and 95 per cent of girls in detention without having gone on trial.
The United Nations Mission for the Support of Justice in Haiti (Minujusth), Bintou Keita, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, recently visited the Jérémie Prison, which has 304 detainees of whom only 20 per cent have already been tried.
The purpose of the Mission is to promote and defend human rights, with particular emphasis on access to justice, compliance with legal procedures, structural support for the prison system and respect for the detention conditions, overcrowding, hygiene, access to care and visits.
