Fort Dimanche is a former prison in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

located near La Saline in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

that was notorious for torture and murder during the reign of

François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haiti, Haitian politician and Haitian Vodou, Vodouisant who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 195 ...

. It was declared a monument in 1987. The original Fort Dimanche was built by the French when Haiti was a colony prior to 1804 and fell into disrepair. It became a military facility built by the

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

in the 1920s during the

American occupation of Haiti The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of Hai ...

. Already prior to Duvalier it may have been used for the handling of political prisoners. During the reign of

Duvalier Duvalier is a French surname, and may refer to: * François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haiti, Haitian politician and Haitian Vodou, Vodouisant who served as the president of Haiti ...

he and his Tonton Macoutes used the facility as an interrogation center and prison to incarcerate, torture, and murder political opponents. Also people who tried to escape from the island and were caught were brought to Fort Dimanche. His son,

Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" (, ), was a Haitian dictator who held the presidency of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François ...

, continued to use it as an instrument of terror. Crammed into tiny cells, three by three by four feet, inmates slept in shifts in their own filth.

Gruel Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a ...

as food was placed on the floor, water was given out infrequently, in addition, inmates drank some of the water when they were hosed down once a week. Dead bodies were often not removed for days and then dumped into mass graves outside the prison. Prisoners died from torture, dehydration, malnutrition, and infections. Most did not survive. It has been estimated that about 3,000 inmates died. When Lieut. Gen.

Raoul Cédras Joseph Raoul Cédras (born July 9, 1949) is a Haitian former military officer who was the '' de facto'' ruler of Haiti from 1991 to 1994. Cedras was the last military ruler of Haiti. Background A mulatto, Cédras was educated in the United St ...

led a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

against

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theo ...

in September 1991, Fort Dimanche was turned temporarily into an armory.

Books

*Lemoine, Patrick, ''Fort-Dimanche, Dungeon of Death'' (October 1977)

References

{{Coord, 18.569, -72.345, display=title Prisons in Haiti

Dimanche ''Dimanche'' (''Sunday''), also known as ''Dimanche - Le Journal d'un Seul Jour'' (''Sunday - The Newspaper for Only One Day'') is an artist's book by the French artist Yves Klein. Taking the form of a 4-page Sunday broadsheet, the piece was pub ...

See also

Books

References