‘Let’s hear what dead PDLs are saying’

Even in death, prison inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) can reveal much about how they lived inside the national penitentiary, particularly the medical issues that led to their demise, through forensic pathology.

With this in mind, the Department of Justice (DOJ) signed a declaration of cooperation on Thursday with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), designating the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila as the facility where deceased PDLs can undergo autopsies and death investigations of “a high standard.”

Dr. Raquel Fortun, the forensic pathologist spearheading the project, said it may also help in the development of a better healthcare system for PDLs. For Fortun, the act of giving them a proper autopsy in itself makes the project laudable. “Not just because you’re a prisoner, society forgets about you. There must be dignity in death,” she said.

Under the partnership, the UNODC will provide the equipment, expertise, and procedures in keeping with international standards to ensure the integrity of the forensic evidence gathered and its chain of custody, in case such findings are needed in judicial proceedings.

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The DOJ is tasked with ensuring the immediate transport of the PDLs’ remains from the prisons run by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to the designated facilities of UP Manila’s College of Medicine.

The partnership covers not only New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City but also the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong.

Right protocol

According to Fortun,  the body must be brought first to the autopsy table and not to funeral parlors for embalming. This allows her UP Manila team to conduct a thorough toxicology analysis that checks for poisoning or drug intake.

But this protocol is largely not being followed, she said, as the College of Medicine typically receives cadavers already embalmed.

Spurred by Lapid case

Fortun said they had received about a hundred referrals from the DOJ since October 2022. It began with her being asked to do an autopsy of Jun Villamor, an NBP inmate implicated in the murder of journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa earlier that month who was later killed by fellow inmates.

“The 100 cases were dissected by (UP Manila) residents. This is important pathology residency training and they’re very good at it. They are taught how to document; so just like any forensic case, these are well documented,” Fortun said.

Based on BuCor records, a total of 4,636 PDLs have died in prison since 2020.

“The most important outcome of this [project] is: how do we improve health care in the prisons?… Any death in these places requires forensic investigation. It’s a health concern,” Fortun said.

The marching order she got from Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla is to “look for foul play,” she said. “But we’re not just looking for foul play here. Were there preventable deaths among these (cases)?”

TB rampant

Citing an example, Fortun said they had monitored tuberculosis (TB) as a leading cause of death among PDLs.

“That’s very telling. If there’s TB among the PDLs, your (BuCor) workers are just as exposed. These people were never diagnosed, much less treated. You can imagine the pain they experienced before they died,” she said.

They have also encountered cases where the cause declared in the PDL’s death certificate was “so far out” from the results of their forensic analysis.

“This is a way to get answers. Let’s learn from these deaths. Let’s hear what the dead PDLs are saying and prevent these deaths,” Fortun said.

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