Living comfort privileges at the Najayo jail will be dismantled gradually, says the director of prisons, Major General Tomas Holguin La Paz. Journalists who visited the jail noted that air conditioners, TV satellite dishes, water filters, water heaters, solar panels and inverters were still in use, especially in the areas housing the wealthier inmates. The journalists toured the prison and saw 13 air conditioning units and nine dishes serving the cells in the “special” area.
Earlier this week, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito ordered the elimination of the privileges. The luxuries are in contrast with the areas housing the inmates without influence or wealth, where TV antennas are made with clothes hangers and propped up with PVC pipes.
The journalists were told that some air conditioners have been removed, but this was in the area for the prisoners awaiting extradition to the United States for drug trafficking.
Major General Tomas Holguin La Paz said that the rooms set apart for conjugal visits have been eliminated, because they were being misused and that 60 inmates have been sent to La Romana model jail.
The journalists were told that the process of eliminating the privileges ordered by the attorney general was a “slow and phased procedure.”