The president announced the opening of three specialized mental health centers for people deprived of liberty
Santo Domingo.- President Luis Abinader stated this Wednesday that the creation of the National Interinstitutional Committee for Mental Health and Penitentiary Cooperation will contribute to transforming Dominican prisons into true spaces of rehabilitation and social reintegration.
During the swearing-in of the body, the president highlighted that mental health care within the prison system is part of the reform efforts promoted by the Government and assured that the Dominican Republic is among the first countries to establish an integrated structure to address mental health issues in prisons.
“This is a project that will not only help save lives within the incarcerated population, but it will also help us with citizen security and also, and most importantly, it humanizes us more,” he expressed.
You can read: President Abinader swears in the Dominican Penitentiary Mental Health Committee
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Abinader also announced the upcoming opening of three penitentiary centers with specialized mental health services in Najayo, La Vega, and San Pedro de Macorís, which will begin operating in the coming months as part of this strategy.
The head of state maintained that the initiative will allow for the prevention of deaths and situations of mistreatment within penitentiary facilities, while also strengthening the processes of care and monitoring for persons deprived of liberty.
“It is turning our prisons into what should be a center for rehabilitation and reintegration into society,” he stated.
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The president thanked the support provided by public institutions, professional associations, national and international experts, and members of the Puerto Rico delegation who have collaborated in the development of the project, and reiterated his government’s backing for the actions promoted by the prison reform led by Roberto Santana Sánchez.
The Dominican Committee for Penitentiary Mental Health is composed of representatives from academic institutions, penitentiary system bodies, health entities, and specialized organizations, with the purpose of promoting research, fostering inter-institutional cooperation, and developing strategies that contribute to emotional and psychological well-being within the Dominican penitentiary system.
The president of the committee is Sandra Margarita Fernández Cedeño, director of the Regional Penitentiary Academy (ARP), accompanied by representatives from the National Office for Support to Penitentiary Reform (ONAPREP), the General Directorate of Penitentiary and Correctional Services (DGSPC), the Higher Specialized Institute of Penitentiary and Correctional Studies (ISEEPENC), national universities, the Dominican Society of Psychiatry, and international specialists linked to the field of penitentiary mental health.
