Hooray for the Escaped Haitian Convicts, Too

by Jim Washburn

One of the first items to be reported, ad nauseum, by CNN and other news outlets when they first arrived at the earthquake disaster in Haiti was that convicts had escaped from the prison and were at large. I didn't hear a word voiced about how miraculous it was that they had survived the deadly earthquake, nor one word of sorrow for those who hadn't escaped. They were too busy hinting at some Jerry Bruckheimer scenario of crazed murderers running amok with rusty machetes.

It turns out that most of the prisoners weren't exactly convicts, since to be one you first have to be convicted. Rather, some 80 percent of the 4,000 people who had been incarcerated there had never been convicted of a crime. Many were accused of petty crimes, but had sat in jail for over a year without ever seeing a judge. Many were political prisoners, human rights workers and others who were never charged with crimes, just kept behind bars for years because they had tried to hold their corrupt, useless government to account. Welcome back to freedom, guys, even if it is a desolate one.

Here's more info from the nice folks at Democracy Now.

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