Haiti
Haitian penitentiary system

Port-au-Prince penitentiary is home to half of Haiti's prisoners. The prison has a capacity of 1,200 detainees but as of November 2017 the penitentiary was obliged to keep 4,359 detainees, a 363% occupancy level. The inability to receive sufficient funds has caused deadly cases of malnutrition, combined with the tight living conditions, increases the risk of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.

Haitian law states that once arrested, one must go before a judge within 48 hours; however, this is very rare. In an interview with Unreported World, the prison governor stated that around 529 detainees were never sentenced, and there are 3,830 detainees who are in prolonged detained trial detention. Therefore, 80% are not convicted. Unless families are able to provide the necessary funds for inmates to appear before a judge there is a very slim chance the inmate would have a trial, on average, within 10 years.

In confined living spaces for 22–23 hours a day, inmates are not provided with latrines and are forced to defecate into plastic bags. These conditions were considered inhumane by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2008.

On 3 March 2024, armed gangs stormed the main prison in Port-au-Prince and around 3700 inmates escaped, while 12 people were killed.
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