The Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación) is the law enforcement executive department of the government responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. The department has authority over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population who have broken the law.[2]
In August 2015, the department was one of eight identified by the Department of Justice as "high-risk" recipients of federal money, based on audits showing "irregular spending and lax internal controls".[3]
In January 2016, $10 million of delayed payments to the department's vendor, Trinity Services Group, threatened to interrupt the food supply to all of its 12,500 inmates.[4]
In 2018 the department under secretary planned to transfer as many as 1,200 inmates outside the island with the intention of transferring 30% of all inmates.[5] The program intended to save millions and close six prisons.[6] The program received criticism from families of inmates concerned about keeping in contact with their relatives and the negative effects the plan could have on rehabilitating inmates.[7][8] The program remained on hold a year later due to lack of funds and contract issues for the transfers.[9]
In February 2021 the Juvenile Institutions Administrations reported an increase in mental health incidents among juvenile inmates.[10]
The Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Spanish: Secretario de Corrección y Rehabilitación) is the appointed official responsible for setting the public policy of Puerto Rico for its corrections, rehabilitation and parole systems.[11]
In 2021 Ana I. Escobar Pabón was confirmed as secretary of the department.[12]
Agencies
Corrections Administration
Juvenile Institutions Administration (Negociado de Instituciones Juveniles NIJ)
Labor and Training Enterprises Corporation
Office of Pretrial Services
Parole Board
Prisons
There are no private prisons in Puerto Rico.
In March 1993 the government made a three-year agreement with city officials in Appleton, Minnesota to fill all 516 beds of their Prairie Correctional Facility with Puerto Rican inmates. The prison had been built by the city and was sitting empty.[13]
Following is a list of Puerto Rico's 33 state prisons.[16] This list does not include federal prisons (such as the Metropolitan Detention Center, Guaynabo) or jails of other jurisdictions.
The main women's prison, Escuela Industrial para Mujeres Vega Alta, opened in 1954, replacing a prison in Areceibo. Work began on the facility in 1952. Puerto Rico also operates the Hogar de Adaptación Social en Vega Alta, which opened in 1987, and the Hogar Intermedio para Mujeres in Río Piedras, which opened in 1996.[17]
^"ContáctenosArchived 2011-12-23 at the Wayback Machine." Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico. Retrieved on May 19, 2010. "Dirección Física: Ave. Teniente Cesar Gonzalez. Esq. Calle Juan Calaf #34. Urb. Industrial Tres Monjitas. San Juan, PR 00917"
This template pertains only to agencies that handle sentenced felons (with sentences over 1-2 years). In many states, pre-trial detainees, persons convicted of misdemeanors, and felons sentenced under state law to less than one year are held in county jails instead of state prisons.
