Md. Company Wins Contract To Build Haiti Prison
CROIX-DES-BOUQUETS, Haiti (AP) -- A construction company based in Maryland has received a U.S. government contract to build a prison in northern Haiti.
DFS Construction LLC of Annapolis, Maryland, has been awarded the $5.6 million contract by the State Department to build the prison in Fort Liberte. The State Department said Friday that construction is expected to begin in October and finish around April 2016.
The two-story prison is designed to hold about 300 inmates in a complex that includes an administration building and a one-story infirmary.
Haitian prisons have long been plagued by overcrowding, with prisoners often waiting years in pre-trial detention for their cases to be adjudicated. In August, 329 prisoners escaped from an overcrowded prison north of the capital in a mass breakout. Authorities have managed to recapture about 75.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
