Elías Wessin Chávez proposes adapting Bukele-style security strategies in the Dominican Republic
Deputy Elías Wessin Chávez has brought to the table the need for the Dominican Republic to evaluate and implement measures inspired by the security model of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. According to the legislator, the goal is not to create an exact copy of the system, but to adapt successful strategies to the local reality to effectively combat crime and the prison crisis.
I believe that Nayib Bukele’s model must be adapted to the Dominican Republic. I am not saying to imitate it, I am not saying to export it directly, but rather to see how we can do something.
Elías Wessin Chávez, Deputy
Focus on the prison system
For Wessin Chávez, the strengthening of prisons is a fundamental pillar in the fight against insecurity. The congressman maintains that the current system requires a profound transformation that ensures detention centers truly function as spaces of reform for inmates, preventing the prison environment from worsening the behavior of criminals.
Proposal for a new mega-prison
As part of his legislative proposal, Wessin Chávez promotes the construction of a penitentiary facility with a capacity for 20,000 people. This initiative seeks to mitigate the overcrowding that affects current centers. The key points of his approach include:
- Transfer of inmates with definitive sentences exceeding five years to the new facility.
- Relief of current prisons to improve living conditions and rehabilitation for inmates.
- Flexibility in the project’s location, moving away from the initial idea of building it on Beata Island to consider any point within the national territory.
The legislator emphasized that the construction of new prison infrastructure is an urgent measure in light of recent criminal events in the country, ensuring that it is imperative to guarantee that those serving a sentence have a real opportunity to reintegrate into society in better conditions than those in which they entered.
