Santo Domingo .- With the aim of providing quality service to inmates with mental health problems, the General Directorate of Penitentiary and Correctional Services (DGSPC) inaugurated this Friday a Mental Health Pavilion at the San Pedro de Macorís Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR-11).
At the event, the general director of Penitentiary and Correctional Services, Roberto Hernández Basilio, He said that with its entry into operation, there are now four spaces that offer this type of assistance to prisoners with mental problems.
The new mental health ward at CCR-11 San Pedro de Macorís has the capacity to house 48 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PPLs) with special mental health conditions, of which 37 inmates will be transferred and housed in the new ward immediately. It is divided into 6 modules, all equipped with beds, fans, sheets, personal hygiene items, bathrooms and a common area with a television and a refrigerator-water fountain.
At the beginning this specialized area will receive inmates with psychiatric pathologiescoming from the Deprivation of Liberty Centers of La Romana, Higuey and El Seibo.
Currently, the correction and rehabilitation centers that They have special pavilions to care for prisoners with mental health problems, They operate in La Victoria, in Santo Domingo Norte; Najayo Mujeres and Najayo Hombres, in the province of San Cristóbal, and now in the Correction and Rehabilitation Center of San Pedro de Macorís.
It is worth noting that the system has a special fund for the purchase of medications prescribed to these inmates, the service of which is completely free, which represents a relief for the family members who have their inmate imprisoned with these medical conditions.
Inter-institutional collaboration
Roberto Hernández Basilio explained that the Ministry of Public Health, through its Mental Health Department, as well as the National Health Service (SNS), have also joined these efforts.
He stressed that this support for inmates with mental health problems has been achieved thanks to the inter-institutional agreement made between the Dominican College of Psychologists (Codopsi), the Dominican Association of Psychiatry and the Ministry of Public Health, through its Mental Health Directorate, and the National Health Service, whose professionals collaborate with the system. for the intervention of prisoners who need these medical specialties.
Meanwhile, Pablo Ulloa, Ombudsman, when taking the floor, expressed his support for this type of initiatives, saying: “restores dignity to the vulnerable person with this condition.”
Ulloa also stressed that this fulfills what is establishes the Constitution and the laws for the treatment of those deprived of liberty with mental health problems.
For her part, Dr. Yokasta Lara, deputy director of the National Health Service, stated that, with actions like these, the mandate of bringing health to the vulnerable is fulfilled, regardless of their situation.
The authorities highlighted that in the centers where these services are provided there is a commission of assessment of the socioeconomic situation of the affected inmate due to this special health situation.
Prisoners carried out work on the construction site
The press release through which the information was offered details that the labor for the remodeling of the recently inaugurated pavilion was carried out by the prisoners who are in the program of the Directorate for the Free Environment, headed by Yenni Olga Hernández.
The event was also attended by the Judge of Execution of Sentences, Aidelise Ramírez, the titular prosecutor of San Pedro de Macorís, Zuleika Mateo, and the mayor Raymundo Ortiz, members of the DGSPC and representatives of human rights and other entities of civil society that collaborate with the penitentiary system in this province.
After the opening ceremony, Hernández Basilio went to the Provisional Attention and Deprivation of Liberty Center (CAPLIP) that is being built in this town, which, he said, he will try to get into operation as soon as possible.
