The Director General of Prisons, Roberto Hernandez Basilioattributed the incident that occurred last Monday at the Azua Penitentiary Facility, where an inmate died and the prison director was injured, to a lack of protocols. Colonel Ricardo Bido.
Hernández Basilio pointed out that, prior to the entry of an inmate into the office of a prison manager, countless processes must be exhausted. He assured that the incident is being investigated by the Public Ministry to clarify it and revealed that the prisoner Deiby Ramírez (Yembron) He entered the office of Colonel Bidó, in charge of security at the facility, with a weapon, and when he noticed it, a struggle broke out between the two.
«There it shows that there was a failure in the protocol. From this fact, the colonel apparently tries to take the weapon from him and a struggle ensues, where two shots are fired, the first being the colonel wounded,” Hernández pointed out when interviewed in the Program The Course of the Morning.
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He added that, after what happened, a team of high-level negotiators traveled by helicopter and spent more than two hours trying to convince the inmate to release Colonel Bidó, who was still kidnapped, concluding in the execution of the inmate due to his refusal.
Rafael Basilio Hernández highlighted that it was a negotiation process to safeguard the lives of the inmate and the colonel, but that the high-level agents involved in persuading the kidnapper saw the need to use force.
He indicated that the law 113-01 It is the new legal framework in the regulation of penitentiary centers in the country, unifying the penitentiary system to the precepts of the so-called “New penitentiary model.”
Hernández stated that the new model is not limited to each prisoner having a bed or having it painted blue, but rather seeks to integrate several aspects: physical structure, processes and protocols for the benefit of reintegration.
The professional soldier revealed that it is in the constitutional reform of 2010 where a different approach is given to the system, with the priority being to reform individuals in the face of prison reintegration.
In reference to antisocial people who commit crimes, Hernández indicated: “It is not just about separating them from society, it is that the State is obliged to reform them and return them to society in conditions in which they can coexist.”
When questioned about the prison overpopulation in the Dominican Republic, The official indicated that the level of overcrowding in the country’s centers is 162 percent and stated that currently a large percentage of prisoners continue sleeping on the floor.
Hernández Basilio assured that the centers pending delivery will provide some 9,500 new cells for prisoners, which will significantly reduce overcrowding. The head of Prisons placed the responsibility for the delivery of these works in the Ministry of Housing (MIVED), and explained that the delay in the facilities under construction, Las Parras in San Antonio de Guerra and Pedro Corto in San Juan de la Maguana , is due to the legal knots that arose after the investigation processes carried out by the Attorney General’s Office, stating that they no longer exist.
“If we finish conjuring up these works within 18 months, the deficit will be reduced and we will be the first country in Latin America to eliminate prison overpopulation,” said Roberto Hernández Peguero.
