The director of the National Office of the Public Defense (ONDP), Rudolph Valentinsaid that currently there are in the prisons known as the old model of the country 15 thousand prisonersof which 40% (6,000) “sleep on the floor.”
The addition conditions precariousness and overcrowding They report regularly to those centers.
In the other penitentiaries, belonging to the new model and whose structures are more modern and equipped, according to Valentín a total of 10,000 inmatesfor a total of 25 thousand prisoners throughout the country.
In a meeting with journalists during the Christmas season, Valentín reported that this year 2025the public defenders they made 21 thousand visits to different prison centersso that the prisoners know about their judicial process, carried out by those public servants.
He stated that, in a social work of the ONDPthey were able to obtain some 1,000 mattresses in this 2025 and they distributed it to several detention centers.
The information of the number of prisoners that due to lack of a bed they sleep on the floor, an attempt was made to confirm with the general director of Penitentiary Services and Corrections, Roberto Santana, but he could not be contacted.
Low budget critique
The director of the National Office of Public Defense demanded bigger budget for that institution, which works with more than 80 percent of the country’s criminal cases and has maintained a deficit of 200 defenders for several years.
Despite the shortage of lawyers, Rudolph Valentin highlighted the professionalism and the quality of those public servants in the legal assistance of the citizens who require them.
He recalled that the public defenders They should not charge a cent or receive gifts from users of the ONDP.
He reported that this year the budget item was increased by 50 million pesos to be placed in RD$840 million, what he considered insufficient.
“Here there are institutions that only have a presence in the capital and their budget exceeds 1,400 million pesos and the truth is that it is an inequity on the part of the State to allocate that budget that the Public Defensewhen it provides an efficient and efficient national service quality“he complained.
He maintained that currently the ONDP has 151 defenders career and 132 lawyers hired in order to respond to the great demand that they have and that saturates each of those lawyers with almost 500 cases.
“Each defender practically has some 400 to 500 casesalmost, however, they do not lower the quality of service,” Valentin said.
He stressed that an increase in the budget item would be reflected in some way in the quality of the service by removing so many burdens from those lawyers.
Currently, there are 73 lawyers selected by competition that are being prepared in the National School of Judiciary and they would join the group that is currently offering the defense.
They study the Criminal Procedure Code
As for the new Law 97-25 of the Criminal Procedure Codeconsidered that “some modifications were necessary” to the regulations that were repealed, but that they are reviewing it in order to issue an opinion.
He announced that if they see that any article violates the guarantees established in the Constitutionthey will attack the law before the Constitutional Court.
