Dominican Republic prisons install technology for humane-centered approach to searches
The Dominican Republic has, since 2003, developed a “New Prison Management Model” which aims to apply the international principles of human rights and the United Nations Mandela Rules – the focus of which is human rights and rehabilitation rather than repression. As part of this initiative, Las Parras Correction and Rehabilitation Centre, commonly known as “La Nueva Victoria” in Guerra, in the Dominican Republic was looking for a technology that would take a humane approach to searches.
The prison decided to partner with Netherlands based, ODSecurity and Smart Logistics International to install the Soter RS body scanner into correctional facility. The Soter RS full body scanner, is a security x-ray system that will detect anything on, or in a body. Contraband hidden on a person, ingested or camouflaged whether organic, metal or plastic will be detected, and can provide the prison security team with a medical grade image showing the clear difference between human tissue and the contraband.
The coordinator of the New Penitentiary Management Model, Hilda Patricia Lagombra said, “The Las Parras Penitentiary Complex is an enclosure in which we will have eight Correction and Rehabilitation Centers where approximately eight thousand inmates who are currently in the La Victoria prison will be housed, a great step within the Penitentiary Reform project, since the overcrowding, the violation of human rights and the mistreatment of inmates will become a thing of the past.”
Stefan van der Veen, of ODSecurity said of the installation, “The Soter System provides a more person centered approach to the search process. It enables the basic human rights of inmates under the United Nations’ Mandela rules to be observed and their dignity preserved in what has been in the past an unpleasant and invasive process. We were delighted to have won this contract and be part of the Dominican Republic’s Penitentiary Reform project.”
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