Panama's Jails Hold
7,000 Untried Prisoners
Due to Slow Judicial
Process
Panama's jails host
nearly 7,000 prisoners
who have not been duly
tried and convicted, due
to slow judicial
process, the country's
Interior and Justice
Ministry said Wednesday.
A total of 11,532
people, including 10,776
men and 756 women, are
kept in jail, but only a
third of them have had a
proper trial.
Women's jails have
better infrastructure
and female prisoners
have access to
rehabilitation
workshops.
"We must improve
Panama's jail
infrastructure, which
has become obsolete and
is too small for the
nation's large jail
population," Panama's
Justice Minister Daniel
Delgado Diamante told a
press conference
following a jail search
in which knives, guns,
drugs and cell phones
were seized.
Terrible conditions have
led to jailbreaks, often
with the help of guards
who were either bribed
or threatened.
Panama's most recent
jailbreak happened in La
Joya Jail, a
high-security
penitentiary for foreign
drug dealers.
|
|
