Jean Jeudy, general secretary of the platform, told Le Nouvelliste newspaper that respiratory difficulties and malnutrition were the main causes of the deaths, and criticized the unsanitary conditions of the facility.

According to the activist, most of the 700 inmates are sick and malnourished, and the local authorities are working to develop rescue plans together with private persons that will allow supplying the prison with food.

Deaths in Haitian prisons have increased in recent years, and in June at least eight people died of starvation, lack of water, heat and disease in Les Cayes, in southern Haiti.

The Integrated Office of the United Nations expressed its concern regarding this phenomenon that it associates with the “very high” rate of prolonged preventive detention exceeding 90 percent, which leads to prison overcrowding.

The organization assured that the resumption of judicial hearings in the city is urgent in order to reduce the number of inmates who were never heard by a judge or had access to lawyers.

Since 2018, Haiti has led the list of nations with the highest overcrowding in prisons, which operate at triple their capacity, and recurrent strikes in the judicial sector have worsened the situation.

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