Escaped Prison Population Poses Threat in Haiti

Officials plan to build areas to house the recaptured inmates, most likely outside the capital, but so far they have only recaptured 36 of some 5,100 missing prisoners.

Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince Photo/video courtesy of MINUSTAH and the UN

(PORT-AU-PRINCE/SALEM) - Thousands of inmates fled Haiti’s main prison after buildings collapsed during the earthquake on 13 January, and they have posed a threat to security in this battered island nation.

Officials say Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince had been burned down by the prisoners after the earthquake in an attempt to destroy prison records.

With the capital in such a vulnerable state, there was some concern that escapees may return to areas like Cite Soleil and try and form gangs.

But locals like Eder Philippe, a resident of downtown Port-au-Prince, say the prisoners had no choice but to escape as the prison came crashing down on them.

"Those prisoners are people too. If the roof falls down on them, they have to escape. It's up to the authorities to figure out what to do now. And anyway, most of the people in there were wrongly judged anyway. They need justice. I would have done the same as them."

Prisons in Haiti, function as a "preventive detention" for men accused of crimes and waiting for trial. Inmates have to endure dire conditions in overcrowded cells where diseases like tuberculosis and chronic malnutrition are rampant.

The UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) worked with the Haitian government to promote a better justice system and to improve human rights for prisoners.

Danielle Boisvert, the Acting Chief of MINUSTAH’s Corrections Unit, said that more then 80 percent of the inmates that escaped had never been convicted.

“There were over 80 percent of the prisoners who have not yet had their day in court and so we can’t establish that they were in fact criminals. What we can say is that amongst them, there were a number of criminals who had been convicted and were serving their sentences.”

According to MINUSTAH, some 5,100 prisoners escaped and so far 36 have been captured in La Cayes and Jacmel. They were not among escapees that had been sentenced. But it is believed that the dismantled gangs will regroup.

Boisvert said, “Whether or not they are rejoining gangs, there were obviously gang members that were in prison so it is quite possible that they are finding themselves in the same neighborhoods at this point.”

Officials with the United States and UN plan to build areas to house the recaptured inmates, most likely outside the capital.

Special thanks to the United Nations and MINUSTAH video crews on the ground in Port-au-Prince:

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com