SANTO DOMINGO – The General Directorate of Penitentiary and Correctional Services (DGSPC) is assessing the damage caused by the effects of Hurricane Fiona on prison structures.
He indicated that the authorities remain active to face emergencies and safeguard those deprived of liberty and all those responsible for the custody and administration of the facilities.
The DGSPC and its emergency, prevention and intervention committees have activated their contingency plan since Friday in order to preserve the integrity of persons deprived of liberty and prison staff.
The General Directorate of the DGSPC and the Administrative Subdirectorate have been assisted by the engineering area of the Attorney General’s Office to begin the evaluation of the damage caused by the hurricane in the Cucama, La Romana, and Anamuya, Higüey precincts. , located in the first region affected by the winds of Hurricane Fiona.
Preliminary reports point to damage to the lighting system, the fall of water tanks, damage to some fences and the water supply system also in both enclosures.
The DGSPC brigades have been working since the early hours of this Monday to repair the most urgently needed damage.
In the precincts, all measures were taken to preserve the physical integrity of those deprived of liberty, who have been facilitated by telephone contact with their close relatives.
So far, no incidents have been reported at the La Victoria Deprivation of Liberty Center due to the passage of Hurricane Fiona. This Monday, the head of the DGSPC, Roberto Hernández Basilio, toured its facilities.
Hernández Basilio also went to the Open Correction and Rehabilitation Center of Haras Nacionales and the Military Enclosure, located in Santo Domingo.
The head of the DGSPC stressed that the inventory of food and medicine is adequate for a possible emergency. “All prison system personnel are working and on permanent alert,” he said.
“We are also in direct contact with the Emergency Operations Center and the State relief agencies that could support us in the event of an eventual emergency in the prison facilities,” Hernández Basilio pointed out.
