Overcrowding, disease and death in Haiti prison

Feb 21, 2017

Overcrowding, disease and death in Haiti prison

Matt Bracken 0 Comment The Baltimore Sun Haiti, prison

Overcrowding, malnutrition and infectious diseases that flourish in jammed quarters has led to an upsurge of inmate deaths inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

: This Feb. 13, 2017 photo shows the tattoos on the chest and abdomen of a prisoner incarcerated at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The tattoo on his chest reads in Haitian Creole: “After suffering is deliverance.” ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner hauling food that brought him, walks past a prison building at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prison authorities say they try their best to meet inmates’ needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel. Some inmates are provided meals by visiting relatives and others are permitted by guards to meet with contacts to bring in food, cigarettes and other things. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: This Feb. 13, 2017 photo shows prisoners in a courtyard at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti’s penal system is by far the globe’s most congested, with a staggering 454 percent occupancy level, according to the most recent ranking by the University of London’s Institute for Criminal Policy Research. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, families with food in tow for their incarcerated relatives, line up in front of the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitiâ€™s penal system is by far the globeâ€™s most congested, with a staggering 454 percent occupancy level, according to the most recent ranking by the University of London’s Institute for Criminal Policy Research. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner stands near the body of an inmate, covered with a plastic tarp, who died of malnutrition inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Overcrowding, malnutrition and infectious diseases that flourish in jammed quarters has led to an upsurge of inmate deaths. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner pours hot oatmeal into a a large stock pot in the kitchen of the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Some inmates are provided meals by visiting relatives but the majority of prisoners are dependent on authorities to feed them twice a day and get little more than rationed supplies of rice, oats or cornmeal. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner sells cigarettes to a fellow inmate at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prison authorities say they try their best to meet inmates’ needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel. Some inmates are provided meals by visiting relatives and others are permitted by guards to meet with contacts to bring in food, cigarettes and other things. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, prisoners cram shoulder to shoulder to watch TV in their crowded cell inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sentenced convicts and the far greater numbers of suspects still awaiting trial, pool together what little money they can scare up to buy small TVs and radios for their shared cells. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, some prisoners play dominoes, checkers or card games, during recreation time inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Inmates, some waiting up to eight years to see a judge, try to keep their sanity by maintaining a daily routine of push-ups and lifting jugs filled with dirty water. Others play checkers or dominoes. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner, too weak to stand, lies in the prison infirmary at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitian prosecutors and rights activists are sounding an alarm about collapsing conditions at the impoverished country’s prisons as malnutrition from acute food shortages and a slew of preventable illnesses are leading to an upsurge of inmate deaths. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, prisoners rest in makeshift hammocks inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prisoners in Haiti’s largest prison are crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in cellblocks so overcrowded they have to sleep in makeshift hammocks suspended from the ceiling or squeeze four to a bunk. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner pulls a large stock pot filled with rice and beans during lunch inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prison authorities say they try their best to meet inmates’ needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel, leading to deadly cases of malnutrition-related ailments such as beriberi and anemia. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, an ailing prisoner stands in a cell designated for sick prisoners near the infirmary in the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prison authorities say they try their best to meet inmates’ needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel, leading to deadly cases of malnutrition-related ailments such as beriberi and anemia. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner combs the hair of a fellow inmate during recreation time inside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. About 80 percent of those incarcerated have not been convicted of a crime but are held in prolonged pretrial detention waiting for their chance to see a judge. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner fills his lunch bowl with rice and beans at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Overcrowding, malnutrition and infectious diseases that flourish in jammed quarters has led to an upsurge of inmate deaths at the National Penitentiary. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

: In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, a prisoner puts food in a bag to send up to a fellow inmate at the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prison authorities say they try their best to meet inmates’ needs, but repeatedly receive insufficient funds from the state to buy food and cooking fuel. Some inmates are provided meals by visiting relatives and others are permitted by guards to meet with contacts to bring in food, cigarettes and other things. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

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