Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | December 9, 1993 |
| Jurisdiction | executive branch |
| Headquarters | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Motto | Security, Rehabilitation |
| Employees | 5,386 |
| Department executive | |
| Key documents | |
| Website | www.ac.gobierno.pr |
The Department of Correction and Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación de Puerto Rico) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies of Puerto Rico over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population.
The Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Spanish: Secretario de Corrección y Rehabilitación) 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.
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.
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.
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