I recently had the opportunity to visit Haiti as part of our role on the United Nations’ Rapid Deployment Prison project. The project is an initiative of the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, working with the International Corrections and Prison Association. Here at Dewberry, Ron Budzinski, Chris Frye, Jim Matarelli, and I have all had a chance to contribute to the development of this concept, which addresses the need for constructing incarceration facilities in post-disaster and post-conflict situations.

The team’s solution involves the use of cargo containers, which can be positioned and designed to create a self-sustaining prison and meet basic program needs such as housing, food preparation, training, administration, and visitor processing. Water, energy, and ventilation can be supplied through a vertical energy core—placing as many as four cargo containers end to end. Tented canvassing would cover many of the open areas in the complex.

For places like Haiti, the Rapid Deployment Prison would be extremely beneficial. I visited the country in May, knowing that I would see poverty and devastation following last year’s earthquake. Still, I was not prepared for the damage and lack of repair in the places I visited. Both the men’s and women’s penitentiaries that I toured had been damaged by the earthquake, and the conditions are very poor.

Some of the cargo containers that could be used to create new or supplemental incarceration facilities are already located in nearby Haitian ports. Once the concept is approved for implementation, the facilities can be operational in as few as three months. It seems to me an obvious solution and a good, cost-efficient idea.

In the few days of my visit, I met people from all over the world who were there to help—people from Canada, the Netherlands, Africa, and elsewhere. I also met many Haitians—friendly, calm, and peaceful people despite the crowding, poverty, and devastated environment in which they live. I was surprised by the amount of help they still need. The Rapid Deployment Prison concept is one step among many to help this nation restore order and begin to rebuild.