International human rights organizations renewed their condemnation of conditions in Haiti’s prison system in 2019, describing facilities that were severely overcrowded and provided less than one square meter of space per inmate on average. The UN and Human Rights Watch both issued reports highlighting the inhumane conditions in which thousands of Haitians were held, many without having been tried or convicted of any crime.
The national prison system housed approximately 12,000 detainees, roughly 75 percent of whom were awaiting trial. The pretrial detention rate reflected systemic failures in Haiti’s justice system, including a shortage of judges, public defenders, and prosecutors, as well as widespread corruption and inefficiency in the courts.
Detainees held in pretrial detention in Haitian prisons frequently waited years for their cases to come before a judge, confined to facilities where access to food, water, and medical care was severely limited. Deaths in custody were reported regularly, attributed to malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical attention.
Legal aid organizations working in Haiti called for urgent reform of the pretrial detention system, including the appointment of additional judges, the establishment of legal aid services, and greater oversight of arrest practices. The issue had festered for years without meaningful government action.