AFP

PORT-AU-PRINCE — At least 58 chil­dren are lan­guish­ing in Hait­ian jails on the heels of the Jan­u­ary earth­quake that dev­as­tated the cap­i­tal area, a rights group reported Sunday.

“These minors are receiv­ing no spe­cial treat­ment what­so­ever and rou­tinely face… pro­longed pre­ven­tive deten­tion, over­crowd­ing, poor con­di­tions and no reha­bil­i­ta­tion strat­egy,” said the Hait­ian National Human Rights Defense Network.

The Jan­u­ary 12 earth­quake lev­eled much of the cap­i­tal Port-au-Prince, killing more than 250,000 peo­ple and leav­ing 1.3 mil­lion liv­ing in pre­car­i­ous tent camps exposed to trop­i­cal storms in Haiti.

Fol­low­ing the quake more than 4,000 pris­on­ers escaped from Hait­ian jails, includ­ing more than 200 minors. But now, 43 boys and 15 girls have been thrown in two pris­ons built for adults, the rights group said.

“There are 15 girls jammed into one lit­tle cell in which there are sup­posed to be a max­i­mum of four peo­ple,” the group said.

Haiti was the poor­est coun­try in the Amer­i­cas even prior to the killer earthquake.

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