New pre-trial detention center in Higüey to improve conditions and reduce overcrowding

Higüey, DR.- President Luis Abinader and Minister of Housing and Buildings Carlos Bonilla marked a significant step towards improving the justice system with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Anamuya Pre-Trial Detention Center in Higüey.

This new facility, built with an investment exceeding RD$574 million, aims to address two critical issues: providing dignified conditions for pre-trial detainees and alleviating overcrowding in La Altagracia’s prison system. It will have a capacity for 560 inmates, 488 of them men and 72 women.

In addition to the cells, the correctional center will also have an administrative building, a search area, a sports court, a dining hall, a watchtower and a garbage department.

The President said that “there is no citizen security without safe and dignified prisons. Working together with enthusiasm, we will all achieve success and bring out of the darkness many people who have seen their lives destroyed by ill-considered decisions, and we will prevent this evil from reproducing itself. Today a new future opens up for Higüey and for the whole country.”

The Attorney General’s Office Deputy Rodolfo Espiñeira said that “having a good prison system is a fundamental part of the actions that the country is taking to reduce social conflict and crime.”

The Higüey Pre-Trial Detention Center is one of several prison facilities that the Ministry of Housing and Buildings is currently building to improve the conditions of inmates.

During the activity, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, swore in the Support Committee for the Penitentiary Reform of La Altagracia province.

This committee will be chaired by businessman Misael Castillo, president of the Misael Group, and will also be made up of Mayerlin Martínez, general secretary of the Dominican College of Journalists in La Altagracia, Grenmer Garrido, president of the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors of La Altagracia; Eufemio Reyes, businessman in the construction sector, and Enoide Cedeño Hichiez, director of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in La Altagracia.