Articles and Related Media

Canadian Correctional Expertise in Haiti

By Bill Rankin, Communications Officer, Communications and Consultation Sector
(December 2001)

The 1990s was a turbulent decade in Haiti's long, troubled history. In 1991, a coup led by military strongman General Raoul Cédras toppled the fledgling presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide; but in 1994 Aristide made a triumphant return, backed by United States military forces. Once restored to power, Aristide's government promptly directed one of their first requests to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP): help reform the Haitian prison system.

The prisons, under military rule since the birth of the Haitian Republic in 1804, had been sorely neglected. In 1993, United States Republican Congressman Dan Burton visited the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince and said, "Conditions were horrendous, sub-human. The place was a living hell."

In response, the UNDP and the governments of France, Haiti and the United States financed a reform project that involved technical support from various countries, including Canada.

In 1995, Jean-Paul Lupien, former warden of Cowansville Institution, requested leave from the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and signed a contract with the UNDP, along with French Warden Pierre Delattre. Their task was to recruit a team of experts to reform not just one prison but the entire Haitian prison system, keeping in mind the Haitian culture, values and the economic situation. It was a monumental undertaking, one that they knew would take years, but Lupien wanted to try. He had earned a reputation as a man who knew how to get things done.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH IN THE "FOURTH WORLD"
"When we arrived," explained Lupien, "we had to start completely from scratch. We had few resources for such a big project. You must understand what Haiti is like - what I call a 'Fourth World' country. In Third World countries like Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic, at least people go to school. In Haiti, 70 per cent of the population is illiterate. There are few schools. Most people live in abject poverty - no income because there is no work. Infrastructure is almost totally absent."

Working in co-operation with the International Red Cross and other humanitarian groups, Lupien and his group helped build a new prison infrastructure, piece by piece, and improved the prisoners' deplorable living conditions. Before their arrival, prisoners had been packed into cells that were either airless and dark or roofless and awash in sewage. Medical care, a dispensary, a prison plan, work schedules, rules and regulations, a code of discipline for prison officers and inmates were non-existent. Prisoners were fed only if outside relatives brought in food. They had never been registered, there were no files, few if any records. Officials had no idea who was in prison, why and for how long. It was clear that priorities had to be established - first, to improve the living conditions, second, to determine the legality of detention for each prisoner, and finally, to train the staff.

All 19 Haitian prisons were surveyed and construction standards were approved by government authorities. As those standards were applied on paper, it became apparent that it would require at least US $25 million to bring all prisons up to Haitian standards. Those kinds of funds were out of reach. With a limited budget, priorities had to be established by the Haitian minister of justice responsible for prisons. The National Penitentiary was selected as the logical place to start.

THE NATIONAL PENITENTIARY
At the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, half the country's inmate population is housed. Lupien discovered that the number of prisoners had swelled dramatically during the 1990s due to a backlog of cases mired in the judicial system. The majority of prisoners had never seen the inside of a courtroom; some had been waiting for word on their cases since 1994. For many others, no record of their alleged crimes existed; they had been lost or destroyed during the years of political upheaval. Today, of the approximately 2,300 prisoners in the institution, it is estimated that 2,100 have never been brought to trial. Lupien and other international advisors tried to right this situation, but the wheels of Haitian justice turn slowly. They learned that it was more efficient to focus attention on improving the prisoners' living conditions rather than appeal to a justice system that Amnesty International described in 2001 as "still largely dysfunctional; . . . the vast majority of Haitians remain without effective access to justice."

CONSTRUCTION STARTS
One of the first projects was to construct a large new cellblock to ease the overcrowding and provide much-needed light and air for the prisoners. Nurses and a nutritionist were hired; a proper kitchen, medical dispensary and infirmary, concrete shower stalls and toilets, as well as recreation yards, were added. The first security system for prisoners was installed.

To keep track of inmates, a manual recording system was developed with the support of experts from Nicaragua and Senegal. A new manual of procedures was used to train reception and discharge officers and thus guarantee the legality of each detention. A basic but essential data collection system was improvised to provide inmate population profiles.

TEACHING HUMAN RIGHTS
Perhaps the biggest challenge Lupien faced was to show all levels of prison staff - all of whom were used to living in an authoritarian culture - the virtues of human rights, tolerance and the rule of law. This was no easy task, as two-thirds of the 500 existing prison guards were from the Haitian military, a force with a long history of oppression against its own citizens.

A training centre was created with the support of CSC employees Vital Fillion and Paul Marcotte and a French trainer from Guadeloupe. Trainers had to crack the old mould and kindle new attitudes in the conscripts about the rights of prisoners, and teach humane techniques for self-defense and conflict resolution.

Fillion and Marcotte spent two and three years respectively supervising training at the college in Port-au-Prince. A program and modules, adapted to Haitian reality and approved by Haitian authorities, were developed and implemented by Haitian trainers who received basic recruit training at the Quebec Region Staff College. Human rights training for front-line staff is a core component of the project and one of its biggest successes. The UNDP provided more than 180 correctional officer (CO) recruits with basic training; 320 COs received on-the-job training; and 13 Haitians were sent to Canada to learn training skills, prison management and security.

PRISON REFORM AT ITS BEST
As a result of the strong will of Haitian authorities, prisoners are no longer beaten; guards now carry whistles instead of sticks or side arms. They have learned how to handle aggressive prisoners, and a support system responds quickly if correctional officers find themselves in trouble. A code of discipline has been developed and is gradually being applied by the Haitian cadre. Besides training and regulations, the Haitian prison system was in need of hardware.

"Can you imagine prisons without furniture? That was the situation in Haiti," says Lupien. He arranged for the shipment of three 40-foot containers full of used desks, chairs, CORCAN tables and computer equipment. Despite these successes, much more must be done. There are 19 prisons throughout the country, all of them in need of repair or rebuilding. Training in human rights and improvements to administration are essential, but the flow of UNDP funds has dwindled.

LUPIEN PASSES THE TORCH
After a total of five and a half tough but rewarding years in Haiti, Lupien decided it was time to retire in 2001. It had taken over two years to have new prison regulations approved by the Justice Department, not including the time needed for implementation, which is the stage they are at today. He passed the responsibility on to CSC's Régis Charron worked as technical advisor to the National Penitentiary for seven months and Jacque Dyotte took over the UNDP project from Lupien and pursues the work today. Lupien insists that these accomplishments were possible only with the strong support of UNDP, his wife who accompanied him to Haiti, and especially the political and administrative authorities in Haiti. Mr. Lupien and his team's invaluable legacy to Haiti has been to give their prison system a mission that embodies their own standards; operating rules to govern the institutions and respect for human rights; Régis Charron and Jacques Dyotte's concepts of empowerment and accountability; and a code of conduct for correctional officers personally written by Mr. Lupien.

Mr. Lupien keeps his hand in by continuing to consult on prison reform around the world.

Régis Charron, Assistant Warden, Correctional Programs at Cowansville Institution, was recently awarded the United Nations International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH) medal for his service as advisor at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince from June 2000 to January 2001. As advisor on the overall administration of the prison, his daily duties included touring the parapets and grounds inside the prison walls, ensuring that correctional officers used the proper procedures, followed all prison rules and looked after the welfare of prisoners. Charron made many recommendations for improving prison management. "The Haitians do amazing things with few resources," Charron commented. "Despite the hardships in Haiti, I found the people very kind. I take my hat off to them."

Congratulations, Mr. Charron!

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1 Let's Talk, Volume 26, number 4, p.30-31