Thousands of inmates are crammed into the Dominican Republic’s severely overcrowded prisons, some operating at seven times their capacity.
They’re known as “frog men,” inmates who are forced to sleep on prison floors, often next to overflowing toilets or holes in the ground that serve as one.
A majority languish there without ever having been charged with a crime and activists warn that they face inhuman conditions and a lack of medical care.
Despite promises to improve the system, critics say the Dominican Republic continues to push for and allow pre-trial detentions in nearly all criminal cases, where no charges have been filed and has made few changes as the problems within prisons keep mounting.
According to the National Public Defense Office, over 60% of the country’s roughly 26,000 inmates are being held under preventive detention, without any charges.
Proponents argue that the measure aims to protect society and allows authorities time to collect evidence in cases.
