penal system

Female prisoners overtake watchtower

Inmates call for better quality of food, water and repairs to facility’s aging infrastructure.

la prensa

locked up: The Nueva Esperanza Women’s Rehabilitation Center is currently home to 75 inmates.1119858

Inmates of the Nueva Esperanza women's rehabilitation center, located on the outskirts of Colón, seized the facility's watchtower to demand that authorities improve the conditions inside the prison.

The prisoners pleaded with reporters who arrived on the scene to verify and witness for themselves the living conditions there.

Police were present for the duration of the protest but indicated that they didn’t have to intervene.

The protesters demanded that improvements be made to the quality of food and water, and that the facility’s infrastructure be repaired.

A specific complaint referred to a restriction on allowing bottled water, which rankled prisoners who had complained of the poor quality of water available throughout the center.

Additionally, protesters asked that visiting hours be extended for their relatives and that they be allowed visits by their underage children. Another of the demands made by the inmates was that they be granted the opportunity to speak directly with Luis Gordon, director of the National Penitentiary System, in order to formally present their grievances.

Director taken off-guard by protest Ninotchka Chong, director of the Nueva Esperanza complex, said she was shocked by the protests, and reported that Gordon had made an appearance at the facility just last week to discusee inmates’ proposed improvements to the center.

The official denied that instructions had been given to withdraw inmate benefits, including visits by their relatives, “it was all a misunderstanding and a rumor” that had since been clarified.

Chong explained that one of the proposed projects is the creation of a kindergarten, so that inmates can be with their children, adding that they are making every effort to realize this initiative. Once finished, cooking and waitressing classes will be given in the hopes that inmates will learn alternative ways of generating income once they have finished their sentences.

Chong reported that prisoners had called off protests and returned to their cells by yesterday afternoon.