Dom. Rep.’s first ever inmate-lawmaker starts prison term

Santo Domingo.- When a National District sentencing judge ordered him escorted to prison Friday afternoon, deputy Ramon A. Fernandez (Papo) became the country’s first lawmaker to ever serve time in a correctional facility

Judge Saul I. Diaz’s ruling rejected a motion by the legislator’s defense seeking to allow him to serve out the first six months of the one year sentence on parole and then complete the remaining six at Najayo prison.

The judge, adhereing to the March 28 Supreme Court conviction for “sequestering” a 14-year-old, instructs Najayo’s warden to hold Fernandez for six months, and his release for March 6 for six months on unsupervised parole.