Haiti: The Prison System, Reintegration of Minors Questioned

Port-au-Prince, October 28, 2025 — With a staggering occupancy rate of 804% in 2015, Haitian prisons have long been a symbol of humanitarian crisis. But the recent escalation of gang violence, culminating in the evacuation and closure of several major facilities, has transformed the structural crisis into total operational chaos, shattering the basic principle of inmate separation and nullifying fragile reintegration efforts. CERMICOL Transformed into a Penitentiary Complex The principle of separating detainees—women from men, minors from adults—is a fundamental legal and humanitarian imperative. Yet, the Haitian prison system, already under strain, saw this principle spectacularly collapse following the attacks in early 2024 against the National Penitentiary and the Croix-des-Bouquets prison. The Center for the Reeducation of Minors in Conflict with the Law (CERMICOL), designed to accommodate about a hundred minors, has become the only operational detention center in the Port-au-Prince region. It now houses 370 people, including adult men (among them former detainees of the National Penitentiary), women, and girls, crammed alongside boys. In September 2024, it held 149 women, 10 girls, 93 boys, and 118 men, in a space deemed by experts to be unsecured and unsuitable. This forced cohabitation is a blatant violation of judicial guarantees and international law, notably exposing girls and women to an increased risk of sexual violence, a scenario already tragically observed in other mixed-gender prisons. Furthermore, this promiscuity has had a direct impact on the center's educational mission. Classrooms are requisitioned to house adults, and the minors' playground is now used for women's ablutions. Academic and vocational training programs are interrupted, completely distorting CERMICOL's mission, which should prioritize education over repression, in accordance with the 1961 legislation. The Paradox of Reintegration: Punishment Without Judgment The issues undermining any prospect of reintegration are twofold: unsanitary conditions and prolonged pre-trial detention (DPP). Detainees endure conditions akin to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, or even acts of torture (according to the UN in 2021). They are undernourished, suffer from anemia, and die from infectious diseases in unsanitary premises. However, the greatest obstacle to reintegration is the judicial system itself. In Haiti, the percentage of people in prolonged pre-trial detention (DPP) reaches alarming levels, exceeding 82% of the general prison population in 2021 and rising to 97% among minors in 2024. As CERMICOL experts analyze, the juvenile prison grapples with a 'childhood more surely threatened than threatening.' Young incarcerated individuals, stemming from poverty, broken families, and poor neighborhoods, are often arbitrarily detained for years without judgment. This situation constitutes a 'penalization of the social': victims of precariousness are treated as culprits, rendering the rehabilitation mission illegitimate and inoperative. The non-functioning of the Port-au-Prince juvenile court since 2019, due to a lack of judges and security, seals the fate of these minors, many of whom exceed the legal age of detention (21 years) without ever having been judged. Who is in Charge? Commendable but Fragilized Efforts Despite the chaos, national and international actors continue to work to maintain a perspective of reintegration, however minimal. The Directorate of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) is the central authority but severely lacks resources. International organizations and NGOs such as:

1. Terre des Hommes-Italy (TDH-I): A partner of the DAP since 2013. It focuses on minors in conflict with the law (MCL) and women. Their support is based on four axes: improving the reeducation pathway, strengthening psychosocial assistance, re-establishing family ties, and reinforcing the DAP's logistical and technical capacities.
2. MINUJUSTH/BINUH (United Nations Mission): Has funded projects through its Community Violence Reduction (CVR) program.
3. ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross): Focused on improving prison conditions, hygiene, and respect for judicial guarantees.
4. Avred-Haiti (Association of Volunteers for the Reintegration of Detainees in Haiti): Offers training in manual trades.

The flagship project carried out at the Hinche civil prison (since 2019) is a model of productive occupation. It enabled the establishment of a chicken farm, training 116 detainees (men, women, and minors) in poultry farming techniques. This project has the dual objective of improving nutrition and allowing released detainees to quickly provide for their families' needs, thus facilitating reintegration and preventing recidivism. Access to Education and Culture: The draft penitentiary law emphasizes access to education (mandatory for illiterates and young people), vocational training, and cultural activities (such as the creative and educational project #IlEtaitUneFable). Facilities are supposed to have a library and offer productive work. Psychosocial and Family Support: TDH-I emphasizes psycho-affective and emotional support and the re-establishment of family ties (coordination of family searches and post-carceral follow-up). This link is considered essential, as without a support network, reintegration efforts can be 'reduced to nothing'. Reintegration initiatives in Haiti exist, driven by legislative will and the commitment of dedicated organizations. However, these efforts remain a drop in the ocean in the face of a systemic crisis. Reintegration into society is an impossible goal to achieve as long as the State fails to guarantee the legal separation of detainees, end prolonged pre-trial detention, and re-establish a functional and secure judicial system. Without the guarantee of the right to be judged, prisoners are not individuals on the path to rehabilitation, but victims of arbitrariness, which makes preventing recidivism a lost battle from the start.