The study ‘Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic 2023’ shows that 80 percent of the inmates are pretrial detainees and of the total number of inmates, at least 12,500 live in overcrowded conditions.

The panorama is similar to the one denounced last year, when a report on Detention and Prison Conditions revealed that in all 22 prisons of the ‘new model’ and in the 19 traditional centers of deprivation of liberty the prison population totaled some 25,711 inmates, although the existing space was for only 15,643 prisoners.

Add to the overcrowding, considered one of the biggest problems of the penitentiary system in the country, the lack of hygiene, mattresses, structures in a deplorable state and even the absence of lighting and adequate health care, according to the CNDH. jg/abo/ro/mpv