Panama's jails hold 7,000 untried prisoners
{mosgooglecenter} PANAMA CITY, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Panama's jails host nearly 7,000 prisoners who have not been duly tried and convicted, due to slow judicial process, the country's Interior and Justice Ministry said Wednesday. A total of 11,532 people, including 10,776 men and 756 women, are kept in jail, but only a third of them have had a proper trial. Women's jails have better infrastructure and female prisoners have access to rehabilitation workshops.
"We must improve Panama's jail infrastructure, which has become obsolete and is too small for the nation's large jail population," Panama's Justice Minister Daniel Delgado Diamante told a press conference following a jail search in which knives, guns, drugs and cell phones were seized.
Terrible conditions have led to jailbreaks, often with the help of guards who were either bribed or threatened.
Panama's most recent jailbreak happened in La Joya Jail, a high-security penitentiary for foreign drug dealers.
