SANTO DOMINGO- The Minister of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (Mivhed), Carlos Bonilla, led a tour together with Roberto Santana, director of the National Office of Support for Penitentiary Reform, to supervise the progress of the first stage of the construction and expansion work of the Las Parras Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR), located in the municipality of San Antonio de Guerra.
During the tour, the works in quadrants A1 ( housing area), with a capacity of 2,400 inmates, and A5 (which includes the administrative blocks. Progress on the main perimeter fence, as well as the new spaces such as the children's visitation area, the sewing workshop, and other areas and improvements.
Regarding the tour, Bonilla stated: “We are verifying the progress of the work carried out by the new contractors, following the bidding process approved by the Commission for Monitoring the Penitentiary Reform Plan. We are confident that by the middle of next year we will be delivering the first phase of this correctional and rehabilitation center, an important step in improving the country's prison system.”
The official detailed the interventions carried out so far, which are:
• Construction of key infrastructure: educational classrooms, sewing workshop, children's visit area, dividing fences, alternate access building and access roads.
• Improvements in safety and services: adaptation of the cells, an electrification system and a sand trap for the wastewater treatment plant.
• Basic service equipment: construction of a main cistern with its equipment, pumping equipment sheds and improvements to parking systems and general services.
These projects are part of an agreement between the Ministry of Housing and Construction (Mived) and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) , which aims to modernize and optimize the national prison system. According to the agreement, Mived is leading the construction and equipping of these facilities, while the PGR is overseeing the design and security policies .
The expansion of the Las Parras CCR is a response to the demands for improvement of the prison system, seeking to strengthen the rehabilitation and guarantee dignified conditions for those deprived of their liberty.
For his part, Roberto Santana highlighted the importance of the redesign and completion of these works for the decongestion of penitentiary facilities and the strengthening of the security and rehabilitation model.
The presidential advisor on security and the prison system, as well as the director of Onapre, urged engineers, businessmen, journalists and community members organized in the support committee for prison reform in the municipality of Guerra to maintain their support and vigilance so that the work continues at the appropriate pace and is put into service with a sense of urgency.
During the inspection, Bonilla and Santana were accompanied by members of the Committee to Support Penitentiary Reform and a group of invited journalists, who were able to verify the progress in the construction and adaptation process of the work.
