The National Penitentiary of La Victoria, an infamous facility inaugurated in 1952 during the regime of dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo regime, has closed its doors. It was designed for 2,000 men and at times harbored more than 9,000 men. It was marked by decades by crippling overcrowding, rampant human rights violations and systemic corruption, Listin Diario writes in its note on the shutdown.
Inmates have been transferred to the Las Parras Correction and Rehabilitation Center, the country’s largest jail located in San Antonio de Guerra in northeastern Santo Domingo province. The relocation began in mid November.
In its report on the shutdown, Listin Diario recalls that corruption and criminal activity were deeply embedded at every level at the Victoria Jail. Public denunciations, such as those made in 2022 by Roberto Santana, the current director general of Penitentiary and Correctional Services, indicated that the jail center’s head of security could receive up to RD$7 million per week for allowing prohibited activities.
The authorities’ failure to maintain effective control fostered an informal system of corrupt self-governance. This vacuum of power gave rise to mafias, extortion, and rampant trafficking of drugs and weapons.
Routine operations regularly “discovered” large quantities of weapons, drugs, cell phones, and the operation of informal businesses, including betting banks and small markets (colmados). The evidence was overwhelming: the penal center had become a criminal operations hub directed from within.
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Listin Diario
15 December 2025