Known locally as frog men, thousands of inmates in the Dominican Republic sleep on urine-soaked floors under catastrophic conditions. Prisons operate at 700% capacity, with over 60% of detainees held without formal charges. Advocates warn of a spiraling human rights disaster as inmates face extreme overcrowding, untreated illnesses, and preventive detention policies that defy constitutional standards.
Rodolfo Valentín Santos, head of the National Public Defense Office, starkly condemned the crisis:
Prisons have become no man’s land. Pretrial detention is supposed to be exceptional, not the norm.Despite promises of reform, systemic inertia persists. La Victoria National Penitentiary—constructed for 2,100 inmates—crammed over 7,000 people into its walls in 2023, including 3,300 awaiting formal charges.
Key systemic failures driving the emergency:
- Pretrial detentions applied in nearly all criminal cases
- Insufficient medical care for 5,000+ inmates battling chronic illnesses
- Prisons reliant on corrupt staff profiting from illegal activities
A 2023 fire at La Victoria killed 11 inmates, mirroring a 2005 blaze that claimed 134 lives. While President Luis Abinader pledged reform via a corruption-funded prison overhaul, progress remains glacial. Proposed solutions, like 25 new prisons by 2028, clash with bureaucratic delays and abandoned projects.
The National Human Rights Commission’s 2023 report warned of state-sanctioned neglect and cells lacking ventilation or sanitation. Meanwhile, courts leave 2,700 inmates trapped due to paperwork backlogs. Attorney General Miriam Germán Brito criticized pretrial detention reliance but stressed judicial accountability.
Activist Roberto Santana, tasked with reforming the system, emphasizes urgency:
We don’t take orders from politicians.Having endured solitary confinement himself, Santana pushes to shutter notorious facilities like La Victoria. Yet critics argue corruption among prison staff—many untrained police or soldiers—fuels exploitation of detainees.
With rehabilitation impossible under current conditions, advocates demand immediate action. As Valentín’s office concluded:
Inmates are treated as objects, not humans. The system is beyond collapse.
