"Haiti's Prolonged Pretrial Detentions: A Legacy of Abject Human Rights Abuses" by Deborah Dimmett

Dec. 4, 2018

This is one of a series of posts written by students in the UA Master's in Development Practice (MDP) Program based on work conducted through their summer field practicums and other research and advocacy activities. 

Deborah_Dimmett

This policy brief was written by MDP student Deborah Dimmett.

"Haiti has long had a history of overcrowded prisons due in part to the large number of pretrial detainees.  A report by CBS News in 2017 stated that most of Haiti’s 11,000 inmates are pretrial detainees—some who will perish before ever having the opportunity to have their first day in court. 

"Since the CBS report, I have been exploring the reasons for this practice of prolonged pretrial detention in Haiti while holding out hope that it might be possible to end this practice if enough pressure was placed on the Haitian government.  However, what has become increasingly apparent is that there is not a sufficient governmental infrastructure nor mechanisms of accountability for such pressure to work..."