Prison Situation in Haiti
The IACHR declared conditions in Haiti's overcrowded prisons inhumane. Numerous human rights reports document that prisoners are dying inside the sweltering, overcrowded 3800-person National Penitentiary in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. They suffer dehydration and disease from filthy water, and Beri beri from starvation rations. Cell "blocks" built to hold five or six people are packed with up to 70 and 80 bodies at a time; prisoners take shifts sleeping and standing.
Without adequate food, clean water, sanitation and medical attention, Dauphin's detention amounts to a death sentence, particularly because he is in ill health. His wife brings him food and medicine when she is able. But the cost of food is high, and the price of gas makes even getting to the prison a challenge. So Dauphin doesn't get to see his wife very often.Minimally, Dauphin says he should be offered medical release to have his undiagnosed symptoms treated by specialists. There is a prison dispensary "but conditions in the dispensary are not good. Every month since I've been here, someone has died in the dispensary," he says.
His co-defendant, Wantales Lormejuste, died in 2007 from untreated tuberculosis contracted inside prison.
As bad as he feels for himself, Dauphin says his wife's situation is worse. "I can't tell you how much she feels alone", he said. "God is with her. It's like she is in jail. One day this will end. I will keep praying. There is hope that one day I will be free."
Read more about this topic: Ronald Dauphin
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