Public Defense documents with audio and video alarming situation in Dominican Republic prisons

The director of the National Office of Public Defense (ONDP) revealed that, for the first time, this institution managed to present in audio and video the true situation of those deprived of liberty in the Dominican Republic, since they were prohibited from accessing the prisons with cameras. prison facilities, to prevent the inhumane conditions experienced by inmates in the country’s prisons from being revealed.

Rodolfo Valentín indicated that, since he took office, he asked the attorney Miriam Germán and the director of Prisons, Roberto Hernández, to allow them to carry out a survey with greater objectivity and truthfulness, in the sense of being able to show what up to now no one could see into the realm of the prison system.

He said that, in this way, he managed to instruct the directors of all prisons to allow the Public Defense to access with cameras so that this year’s report could diagnose the situation of overcrowding and vulnerability experienced by inmates. in all the country.

However, he clarified that the report’s findings are not a complaint against the system, but a revelation of what is happening in the prison system, with the intention of preparing proposals and recommendations that facilitate substantial improvements.

“What we are going to do is to improve the system, because we want detainees or convicted persons who serve the end of their sentence, essentially, education and social integration. So, in this condition it is impossible, ”he explained, during a panel in Despierta with CDN, in which the executive vice president of the Institutionality and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Servio Tulio Castaños Guzmán, also participated.