Haiti faces a serious humanitarian, political and security crisis due to gang violence, compounded by deep-rooted poverty and a series of devastating natural disasters, including most recently Hurricane Melissa.
The country’s justice system has struggled to function effectively amid these crises. Cases are not tried quickly enough and 82 percent of prisoners are detained while awaiting trial.
Here’s what you need to know about prisons in Haiti and how the UN is helping to improve the situation for detainees.
William O’Neill (center back) visits a detention center in Haiti.
Prisons under pressure
At the end of September 2025, more than 7,200 men, women, boys and girls were held in Haitian prisons. Convicted criminals are often held alongside detainees awaiting trial and children are frequently detained alongside adults, in contravention of international standards, including the Nelson Mandela Rules, the universally recognized model for prison management in the 21st century, named in honor of the former South African president who was imprisoned for 27 years as a political prisoner.
Gang occupation of urban areas where several prisons are located and high-profile escapes, some led by gang members, have further reduced the capacity of the prison system and caused overcrowding.
Some prisons hold at least three times the number of people they were built for.
Inhumane conditions
The UN has described prison conditions in Haiti as inhumane and degrading, but what does that really mean? William O’Neill, the United Nations designated expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, has visited many of them: “The conditions are inhumane, frankly. Incredibly overcrowded and hot. There is not enough food. There is very little access to medical care. Prisoners are kept in cells for many hours a day with very little air or light, or access to water, toilets and showers.”
Fifty-two people have died while detained in the last three months in Haitian prisons, many “from diseases that should not kill them,” O’Neill said, adding that “they are so weakened by the conditions and the lack of proper nutrition and access to enough water, it is a deadly combination.”
There is a budget allocated in the prison system to provide food to prisoners, but often that money is corruptly diverted elsewhere.
A Haitian who spent three years in preventive detention was released with the support of the UN.
Arrested for the theft of two pairs of shoes
The deadly conditions are largely due to housing too many detainees in not enough space.
This chronic overcrowding is a direct result of the practice of imprisoning people before trial. In Haiti, what is known as preventive detention, 82 percent of the national prison population is awaiting trial, making them innocent in the eyes of the law until proven guilty at trial.
One prisoner told William O’Neill that he had been waiting for a trial date for two years; His alleged crime? The theft of two pairs of shoes.
“There is a delay because the court system is not working,” Mr O’Neill said. “There aren’t enough trials and they keep arresting people. Police often arrest people en masse. They literally arrive at the scene of an alleged crime and arrest everyone they find. People get caught up in these kinds of networks and spend a lot of time in prison even though they have nothing to do with the crime.”
Port-au-Prince gangs
Violence in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, where gangs are said to control 90 percent of the territory, has caused numerous courts to close, further slowing down the justice system.
Meanwhile, in March 2024, the capital’s two main prisons, the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary and the Croix-des-Bouquets prison, were attacked by gangs resulting in the escape of 4,600 inmates, including several notorious gang leaders.
Local sources indicated that many of the escapees joined together and strengthened the ranks of various gangs.
A gang member poses in the Delmas 3 area of Port-au-Prince.
Rebuilding justice
Supporting prison reform and improving detention conditions in Haiti has been a key focus of the UN political mission in Haiti, BINUH, the Human Rights Office and the Designated Expert and a key pillar of the broader UN mandate to strengthen the rule of law and human rights. The goal is to achieve long-term structural reform to address systemic deficiencies in the justice sector.
Initiatives have included supporting prosecutors and judges to attend prison hearings, which has led to the release of some young people and a reduction in pre-trial detention. Training has been provided to police and prison officials, and the UN has supported the rehabilitation of detention centres, including the installation of basic infrastructure such as latrines, water access points and ventilation systems.
Ultimately, it is Haiti’s Ministry of Justice that is responsible for prison and police reform and, according to designated expert William O’Neill, the UN can support authorities by “providing expertise and resources, but also demanding results. We are not going to continue to simply provide training and equipment. There need to be results and sustainable results.”