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Actors in the justice system join efforts to guarantee the rights of vulnerable prisoners

About the Judiciary

The Dominican Judicial Branch, together with the Attorney General's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the General Directorate of Penitentiary and Correctional Services, and health sector institutions, analyzed the situation of the inmates of the national penitentiary of La Victoria, with the objective of implementing an emergency program aimed at assisting the inmates in conditions of vulnerability.

The measure will be part of a strategic plan called: "Optimization of the criminal process" to be carried out by all justice institutions to improve the approach to criminal justice and the Dominican penitentiary system.

This program contemplates an urgent action plan in La Victoria, which includes an action plan for inmates who are affected by one of the following conditions: inmates with serious illnesses; inmates who have served their sentence; inmates who have served their sentence with a fine; and inmates on bail in a situation of poverty.

The initiative is part of the institutional vision of the Judicial Branch. of reaching Justice a Day to guarantee the dignity of the people. According to Luis Henry Molina, president of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Judicial Power Council, "to achieve this purpose it is necessary to improve access to justice for people in conditions of vulnerability, among which are those deprived of liberty linked to misdemeanors with release orders that have not been enforced or who are in a serious health situation".

The meeting was also attended by Judge Miriam German Brito, Attorney General of the Republic; Deputy Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso; Daniel Rivera, Minister of Public Health; Mario Lama, Director of the National Health Service (SNS); Rodolfo Valentin, Director of the National Public Defense Office; Friar Aristides Jimenez Richardson, Coordinator of the Catholic Church's Prison Pastoral; and Roberto Hernandez Basilio, Director General of Prison and Correctional Services.

For the Judicial Branch, in addition to Chief Judge Molina Peña, the following criminal judges were present: Fran Soto Sánchez, judge of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice; Rafael Báez, judge of the First Chamber of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the National District; Esmirna Gisselle Méndez, president of the First Collegiate Court of the National District; and Kenya Romero, coordinator of the Courts of Instruction of the aforementioned jurisdiction.

As part of the emergency operation at La Victoria Penitentiary, among other activities, the following actions will be carried out:

  1. Validate the identification, evaluation and screening of persons in conditions of extreme vulnerability, prior to applying the corresponding judicial measure.
  2. Implement a process for the immediate execution of release orders for those who require it.
  3. Enable medical examiners with a permanent seat in La Victoria for medical attention, medical evaluation and issuance of the medical certificate.
  4. Enable a mobile laboratory in La Victoria to perform analytical tests on inmates.
  5. Facilitate the admission of people with health conditions to hospitals and their appropriate approach to the diagnosis.
  6. Enable transfers of prisoners to health centers through ambulances and the supply of medicines.
  7. Appointment of internists, psychiatrists and psychologists to care for, evaluate and certify the condition of inmates.

At the meeting, the participants expressed their firm will to seek solutions in the light of the criminal procedure regulations that guarantee a prompt response to judicial processes, with special emphasis on the problems faced by inmates with serious health problems, without files, the procedural status of pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners, aimed at dignifying and improving the conditions in which they find themselves, making use of the procedural institutes allowed by the law.

In this regard, it was proposed that an inter-institutional working group be set up at the national and departmental levels to manage and follow up on the actions required of State institutions, taking into account the level of urgency.

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