In the Dominican Republic, prisons are severely overcrowded and thousands of inmates, known as “frog men,” are forced to sleep on floors next to overflowing toilets or holes in the ground. Many are held under preventive detention without being charged with a crime, leading to inhumane conditions and a lack of medical care. Despite promises to improve the system, critics argue that the country continues to allow pretrial detentions in nearly all criminal cases and has made few changes as problems within prisons escalate.
Over 60% of the country’s inmates are held under preventive detention, some for up to 20 years without being found guilty. The National Public Defense Office advocates for alternatives to prison time, such as bail, that are rarely used. The oldest and most populated prison, La Victoria National Penitentiary, holds more than seven thousand inmates, with many facing extreme poverty and dangerous living conditions.
President Luis Abinader appointed former prisons director Roberto Santana to lead a commission aimed at improving the prison system, which is said to be on the brink of collapse. Santana, who spent two years in solitary confinement at La Victoria, is working to overhaul the system and close some of the most overcrowded prisons. Despite efforts to build new facilities and improve conditions, corruption and delays in legal processes continue to contribute to the ongoing crisis in the prison system. The National Public Defense Office and the National Commission of Human Rights have called for urgent reforms to address the inhumane treatment and lack of rights endured by inmates in the Dominican Republic’s prisons.
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