VZCZCXRO5804
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #1695/01 2951112
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221112Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7082
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1676
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1490
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0921
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1335

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR AND INL 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM HA KCRM KCRS KJUS SOCI
SUBJECT: SEVERE CONDITIONS IN MEN'S NATIONAL PENITENTIARY 
 
REF: PORT-AU-PRINCE 1532 
 
PORT AU PR 00001695  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.   Prisoners in the men's national penitentiary 
in Port-au-Prince suffer from severe overcrowding and live in 
extremely unhygienic conditions.  The prison lacks the most 
basic facilities and equipment for hygienic food preparation 
and elementary health care.  Numbers of correctional officers 
and their equipment are insufficient to adequately guard or 
manage the prison.  End summary. 
 
Prison For 1200 Inmates Holds 3070 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  Embassy Human Rights officer and Narcotics Affairs 
Section (NAS) Chief visited the men's national penitentiary 
in Port-au-Prince October 4.  The National Penitentiary in 
Port-au-Prince, built in 1915, was originally designed to 
hold a maximum of 800 prisoners.  The penitentiary was 
expanded in 1997 to accommodate an additional 400 inmates, 
for a total of 1200 prisoners.  On October 4, the prison held 
3070 inmates, slightly more than 2.5 times its intended 
occupancy.  Of the 3070 prisoners, 110 were convicted while 
2960 were in pre-trial detention, awaiting final disposition 
of their cases.  A typical 170 square foot cell contains 72 
prisoners.  A typical 50 square foot cell contains 40 
persons.  In order to sleep, inmates either take turns 
sleeping, sleep in makeshift hammocks hung from the window 
bars, sleep standing up, or sleep during physical recreation 
period when many prisoners leave their cells.  It is a common 
practice to pay the physically stronger inmates money in 
exchange for a number of hours of uninterrupted sleep in a 
bed. 
 
¶3.  The cells do not have latrines or running water.  Inmates 
who cannot wait until recreation period in order to relieve 
themselves defecate in plastic bags, which are kept inside 
the cells, or urinate through the cell bars into the corridor 
or into plastic bottles.  Consequently, the poorly ventilated 
prison cells and corridors reek of urine and feces.  The 
prisoners have access to about three quarts of clean water 
per day to satisfy all of their needs, including washing and 
drinking.  Many prisoners suffer from sexually transmitted 
diseases, tuberculosis, and various skin aliments.  Robinson 
Cadet, an American CIVPOL corrections advisor to MINUSTAH, 
has secured $25,000 in private funding for a cleaning and 
sanitation project called Titanic Plus that will target the 
penitentiary cell block known as ''the Titanic.'' 
 
Facilities Unhygienic And Inadequate 
-------------------- 
 
¶4.  Food is stored and prepared in unhygienic conditions. 
Since the two existing chest-type freezers are inadequate to 
store all the food requiring refrigeration, most food remains 
unrefrigerated.  The kitchen contains no counters for 
preparing food.  Food is cooked in open vats, which are 
placed uncovered on the ground during and after the 
preparation process.  Prisoners transport the vats of food 
from the kitchen to the cell blocks.  To receive their two 
meals per day, inmates must line up in the unhygienic 
corridors of the cell blocks to receive food from the vats 
which are placed on the corridor floor.  Some prisoners also 
receive food brought by relatives - approximately 200 
relatives visit the prison on weekdays and 500 on weekends. 
 
¶5.  The two-room infirmary is overcrowded as well.  Patients 
sleep on beds or mattresses on the floor under the beds. 
There is no quarantine unit for patients with tuberculosis or 
leprosy.  Each room contains about 27 patients.  The 
infirmary, however, does have latrines and water.  The small 
nurses' station between the two rooms does not have 
refrigeration for medicines or a secured cabinet for 
controlled medicines. 
 
Correctional Officers And Riot Equipment Needed 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  Officially, 118 correctional officers work at the 
penitentiary, but in reality, only 40 officers, spread across 
two shifts, guard and manage the prison.  The remaining 78 
 
PORT AU PR 00001695  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
officers remain on the payroll but do not report to work. 
The correctional officers have no radios or riot equipment, 
nor do they venture into the cell blocks.  (Note: The 
American CIVPOL advisor is the only uniformed officer that 
regularly enters the cell blocks.  End note.)  The prison 
only has one vehicle, which the inspector uses to transport 
prisoners to the hospital or to court, and to buy the food 
needed to feed the prisoners.  MINUSTAH soldiers and riot 
police are stationed outside the prison, but the security of 
the correctional officers inside the prison is tenuous at 
best. 
 
Comment 
------------ 
 
¶7.  The Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) visited the 
National Penitentiary in order to assess possible quick 
impact projects, particularly projects that would improve the 
health and sanitation conditions in the prison.  In the 
course of the visit, NAS identified several areas in which 
small projects would have a major impact toward ameliorating 
prison conditions: at least three additional water tanks to 
allow the prison to store water sufficient for one day; 
kitchen equipment, including refrigeration, to improve 
sanitation in food preparation; a pump to allow access to 
water for washing from the underground 75,000 gallon cistern; 
additional supplies and equipment to support the expansion of 
the Titanic Plus program throughout the entire prison; 
medical equipment and supplies for the infirmary; and 
possible construction of a small isolation ward for highly 
contagious prisoners to keep them separated from the main 
inmate population. 
 
¶8.  Comment continued.  Human rights organizations, the 
National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), the 
International Crisis Group (ICG) and the Interamerican 
Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), for example, have 
published several reports documenting the degrading prison 
conditions.  The GoH's Office for the Protection of Citizens 
(OPC) also has commented on the severity of the prison's 
living conditions.  Post has also reported on the conditions 
at the prison in its human rights report.  Without question, 
the conditions at the National Penitentiary are among the 
worst in the country, much more severe than the conditions in 
Hinche (see reftel) or the Women's Prison in Petionville, a 
suburb of Port-au-Prince.  RNDDH, the ICG, the ICHR and the 
OPC have all expressed concern that the elevated 
incarceration rates due to the security crackdown and 
ineffectual judical system will only aggravate the already 
deficient human rights conditions of the Haitian penal 
system.  NAS's quick impact projects should contribute 
substantially toward alleviating some of the dire living 
conditions in the National Penitentiary. 
SANDERSON