{"id":509834,"date":"2026-06-03T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/president-abinader-swears-in-the-dominican-penitentiary-mental-health-committee\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:30:31","slug":"president-abinader-swears-in-the-dominican-penitentiary-mental-health-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/president-abinader-swears-in-the-dominican-penitentiary-mental-health-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"President Abinader swears in the Dominican Penitentiary Mental Health Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Santo Domingo.-<\/strong> The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, led the swearing-in of the Dominican Committee for Penitentiary Mental Health this Wednesday at the National Palace, an initiative that seeks to strengthen policies, programs, and actions aimed at the comprehensive mental health care of people deprived of liberty, penitentiary staff, and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The swearing-in ceremony took place within the framework of the Penitentiary Mental Health Week, a national event held from June 2nd to 7th that brings together government authorities, national and international specialists, representatives of the penitentiary system, universities, and organizations linked to mental health and social rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The creation and implementation of this committee constitutes one of the main results of the International Forum on Prison Mental Health held in the Dominican Republic in October 2025, a space in which prison and health entities from various countries participated and where the need to elevate this issue to national public agendas was promoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>You can read: <a href=\"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/nacionales\/tse-aplaza-audiencias-reglamento\/\">TSE postpones hearings on JCE polling regulations and PHD internal conflict<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president of the committee is Sandra Margarita Fern\u00e1ndez Cede\u00f1o, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the swearing-in ceremony, the Director General of Penitentiary and Correctional Services (DGSPC), Roberto Santana S\u00e1nchez, stated that mental health care must be a priority for both the State and society, and maintained that the establishment of the committee responds to the progress achieved in the reform and the constant monitoring by the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNeglecting mental health in societies pays, it pays a price. Particularly in the Dominican Republic we know about that and we have paid the price and measures have been taken to counteract, to address that issue,\u201d expressed Santana, highlighting that this problem has been a constant concern of President Luis Abinader and that it requires a comprehensive response, especially in the penitentiary sphere, where it directly influences the rehabilitation and reintegration of people deprived of liberty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a moment of fulfillment, this is a moment to demonstrate with actions how words are honored,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For her part, the Committee president, Sandra Fern\u00e1ndez, stated that mental health will not only be for those deprived of liberty, but that they also have the responsibility to ensure the well-being of the prison staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis space will be an ecosystem where high-quality clinical care, specialized training for our professional successors through university internships, and applied research converge,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the swearing-in of the Dominican Committee for Penitentiary Mental Health, the country takes a transcendental step in the consolidation of a public policy aimed at guaranteeing healthier, more inclusive penitentiary environments focused on rehabilitation and social reintegration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About the Penitentiary Mental Health Week<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the Penitentiary Mental Health Week, experts from the Carlos Albizu University of Puerto Rico, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and the Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation will participate, sharing experiences and best practices related to mental health care in penitentiary contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Activities include academic meetings, specialized panels, visits to penitentiary centers, the signing of institutional cooperation agreements, and a 5K walk for Penitentiary Mental Health, with the goal of raising awareness in society about the importance of addressing this issue from a human, scientific, and comprehensive perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santo Domingo.- The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, led the swearing-in of the Dominican Committee for Penitentiary Mental Health this Wednesday at the National Palace, an initiative that seeks to strengthen policies, programs, and actions aimed at the comprehensive mental health care of people deprived of liberty, penitentiary staff, and their families. The swearing-in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":509836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[40231,21],"class_list":["post-509834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-dominican-republic","tag-luis-abinader"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-28D8","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-03-at-12.23.54-PM.jpeg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Elsa Cesilia Feliz","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-elsa-cesilia-96x96.jpg","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-03-at-12.23.54-PM.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}