Spanish
Santo Domingo. – The director of Penitentiary and Correctional Services, Roberto Santana Sánchez, stated that “nothing lasts forever” after the technical closure of the La Victoria Penitentiary Center.
The technical closure, executed this Tuesday, implies that no more prisoners will be sent to La Victoria.
Santana, who also directs the National Office of Support for Penitentiary Reform, explained that after the total closure of the enclosure and the transfer of technical personnel, the construction of an educational plaza in the place is being evaluated, destined to benefit the residents of the area, which he defined as "the other side of the coin and a place of hope".
"The proposal that has been made to him and has been being evaluated with the State is that, instead of what it was, an educational plaza be built. Where there was opprobrium, may there be hope. Where there was humiliation, may there be redemption. Where there was an absence of rights, may it be the space where one learns to live and practice human rights," Santana expressed, visibly moved.
"In short, nothing lasts forever," the official reiterated, emotional.
The correctional facility, built in 1952 during the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, had a capacity for 2,000 prisoners, but came to house more than 9,000 inmates, becoming one of the most critical symbols of prison overcrowding in the country.
In the context of the technical closure, the judges received a circular on December 12th, instructing them that, instead of ordering the sending of defendants to La Victoria, they should order that those who are sent to preventive prison serve their sentence in the Las Parras penitentiary center.
The provision was notified through Circular No. 00132025, issued by Jhonattan Toribio Frías, general director of Administration and Judicial Career (DGACJ) of the Judiciary. The document was addressed to the general director of Penitentiary and Correctional Services, Roberto Santana, and also notified to judges nationwide.
