Haiti’s National Penitentiary, a time bomb because of the spread of Coronavirus

Of more than forty prisoners showing signs of fever and flu at the civil prison of Port-au-Prince at the beginning of May, eleven are positive for Covid-19, Le Nouvelliste has learned from multiple sources . The newspaper also learned from these sources that the RNDDH wrote earlier this week to Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe calling for an “immediate intervention by the CSPN to halt the spread of Covid-19 at the civil prison of Port- in Prince, where 3,555 detainees are imprisoned, including 401 who are sentenced ”.

“I can confirm that the Covid-19 entered the prison,” Charles Nazaire Noël, director of prison administration, told AFP by telephone. “We fought a tough battle to avoid this, but, unfortunately, it happened. We will not give up, we will continue to strengthen the prison sanitation system, ”added the director.

Last week, around 50 detainees from the country’s largest prison center suffered from fever, prompting health officials to make a diagnosis. Eleven of the sample of 12 prisoners tested were infected with naCovid-19, according to the results obtained on May 15 but made public on May 21.

“I sent correspondence to the MSPP (Ministry of Health, editor’s note) to have a screening of all detainees at the National Penitentiary,” Charles Nazaire Noël, said on Thursday to AFP.

 “All the staff will also be screened. This will not be done all at once but step by step. But the MSPP confirmed to us that there was no problem: in the coming days, it will start in groups of 50, ”explains the high-ranking Haitian police.

The spread of the virus in the prison located in the heart of downtown Port-au-Prince could quickly worsen this toll. With a capacity of 778 cells, the “penitentiary”, as it is commonly called, now has more than 3,600 prisoners, more than three quarters of whom have been awaiting trial for several months or years.Continue reading.