Haiti/Prison Hell: Delmas 33 Prison, Reflection of a Penitentiary System in Crisis

Following a two-day mission to the Delmas 33 police station, ORDEDH denounces inhumane detention conditions: extreme overcrowding, lack of food and drinking water, blatant human rights violations. This case is part of a national crisis where prisons, from Jacmel to Hinche, are sinking into humanitarian chaos. In a damning report, the Organization for the Strengthening of Human Rights (ORDEDH) describes an unbearable reality at the Delmas 33 police station: 70 people crammed into barely 35 m², forced to sleep on their knees or squatting. Among them, a minor arrested in La Gonâve, detained with adults in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The majority are serving prolonged pre-trial detention, sometimes for eleven months, for minor offenses such as theft or threats, without knowing when their case will be heard. The organization calls on the OPC Material conditions are alarming: a complete lack of food, drinking water, and medical care. Women, kept in an unsanitary environment, suffer from infections due to lack of hygiene. ORDEDH demands the transfer of minors to suitable facilities, the rearrangement of spaces for women, the swift organization of correctional and criminal sessions, as well as a regular distribution of meals and drinking water. The organization also calls on the Office of Citizen Protection (OPC) to strengthen its inspections and demands that the Ministry of Justice fully assume its responsibilities. But the tragedy of Delmas 33 is not isolated. In Jacmel, the civil prison is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis: in one month, 14 detainees have died there and more than 200 others are seriously ill. Designed for 120 prisoners, the facility houses over 800. Lack of water, food, and a complete absence of care are daily realities there, warns Me Frantz Comonce of the Southeast Legal Aid Office. Carceral facilities in untenable situations The Collective of Lawyers Committed to the Defense of Human Rights (CADDHO) reports six deaths at the Petit-Goâve prison and an equally critical situation in Saint-Marc, where 349 out of 549 detainees are still awaiting trial. There, officials are sometimes forced to beg in the streets to feed the prisoners. In Hinche, approximately 500 detainees survive without access to drinking water, in dilapidated premises where tuberculosis, scabies, and gastrointestinal diseases proliferate. Wastewater stagnates, hygiene is almost non-existent, and even seriously ill individuals are not transferred to the hospital. 82% of Haitian detainees in pre-trial detention According to several organizations, 82% of Haitian detainees are in pre-trial detention, often for years, transforming prison into punishment before judgment. These conditions, exacerbated by malnutrition, unsanitary conditions, and lack of care, constitute a systematic violation of fundamental rights. For ORDEDH, as for CADDHO and GDDI, there is an urgent need to act. The NGOs call for decongesting cells, improving sanitary and food conditions, and restoring respect for national and international standards. The Editorial Team