BuCor records 476 prison deaths from January to July

By: Tetch Torres-Tupas - 4 years ago

MANILA, Philippines – In the past seven months, the Bureau of Corrections has recorded more than 400 inmates who died due to diseases.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the count from January this year to July 19 showed that 476 inmates or persons deprived of liberty died from due to COVID-19 and non-COVID causes.

The figure is scattered in the seven penal institutions under BuCor – the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao del Norte, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and the Leyte Regional Prison in Southern Leyte.

Of the 476 deaths, BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag, during his meeting with Guevarra, said 21 were deaths due to confirmed COVID-19 cases.

However, he declined to identify the inmates citing the Data Privacy Law.

Based on its last count, the total confirmed cases all throughout the BuCor – gathered since the start of its monitoring in March – is at 344 confirmed cases, 21 deaths, and 323 recoveries.

Guevarra has already ordered an investigation after news that nine high profile inmates, including Jaybee Sebastian, have died due to COVID-19.

He said the NBI’s Death Investigation Division (DID) might be tapped to handle the investigation. [ac]