Port-au-Prince, May 30 (RHC)-- In Haiti, local social justice and human rights groups are warning that hundreds of prisoners could be at risk of dying of COVID-19 as infections are quickly spreading inside the country’s prisons. 

The Miami Herald reports at least 11 prisoners at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince have already tested positive, and many others are presenting symptoms such as fevers.  But Haitian human rights groups believe the number of infections is far higher as prisons are overcrowded, with scarce food supplies or essential medication, and up to 80 prisoners are often crammed shoulder to shoulder inside filthy cells without ventilation. 

The United States has also faced criticism for deporting Haitians who had tested positive for the coronavirus.