Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation


The Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is the executive department of the government responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population.

Secretary

The Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation is the appointed official responsible for setting the public policy of Puerto Rico for its corrections, rehabilitation and parole systems.
Since January 2016 the incumbent Secretary has been Einar Ramos López.

Agencies

In August 2015 the department was one of eight identified by the Department of Justice as "high-risk" recipients of federal money, based on audits showing "irregular spending and lax internal controls".
In January 2016, $10 million of delayed payments to the department's vendor, Trinity Services Group, threatened to interrupt the food supply to all of its 12,500 inmates.

Prisons

There are no private prisons in Puerto Rico, but the territory has contracted with corrections companies in the past.
In March 1993 the government made a three-year agreement with city officials in Appleton, Minnesota to fill all 516 beds of their Prairie Correctional Facility with Puerto Rican inmates. The prison had been built by the city and was sitting empty. Early disputes "underscored the communication problem among inmates and guards". With the introduction of additional prisoners from Colorado and resulting inmate unrest, city officials ended the contract.
In March 2012, Puerto Rico contracted with Corrections Corporation of America to send as many as 480 inmates to CCA's Cimarron Correctional Facility near Cushing, Oklahoma. The three-year contract was brought to a premature close in June 2013 after unit-wide fights and "disruptive events", with the inmates sent home.

Current

Following is a list of Puerto Rico's 33 state prisons. This list does not include federal prisons or jails of other jurisdictions.
The main women's prison, Escuela Industrial para Mujeres Vega Alta, was opened in 1954, replacing a prison in Areceibo; work began on the facility in 1952. Puerto Rico also operates the Hogar de Adaptación Social en Vega Alta, which opened in 1987, and the Hogar Intermedio para Mujeres in Río Piedras, which opened in 1996.

Former

Puerto Rico's former prison facilities include: