| PORT-AU-PRINCE - At
least 58 children are languishing in Haitian
jails on the heels of the January earthquake
that devastated the capital area, a rights group
reported Sunday.
"These minors are receiving no special
treatment whatsoever and routinely face...
prolonged preventive detention, overcrowding,
poor conditions and no rehabilitation
strategy," said the Haitian National Human
Rights Defense Network.
The January 12 earthquake leveled much of the
capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than
250,000 people and leaving 1.3 million living in
precarious tent camps exposed to tropical storms
in Haiti.
Following the quake more than 4,000 prisoners
escaped from Haitian jails, including more than
200 minors. But now, 43 boys and 15 girls have
been thrown in two prisons built for adults, the
rights group said.
"There are 15 girls jammed into one
little cell in which there are supposed to be a
maximum of four people," the group said.
Haiti was the poorest country in the Americas
even prior to the killer earthquake. |
