DoJ, UP and UN body agree to enhance probe of prisoners’ deaths
THE PHILIPPINES’ Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday signed a declaration with the University of the Philippines (UP)-Manila College of Medicine and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to strengthen the investigation process on the deaths of prisoners.
Under the commitment, dead convicts in Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) facilities in Metro Manila, including the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), will be immediately sent to UP Medicine facilities that oversee autopsies and death investigations.
BuCor Director-General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang, Jr. told reporters on the sidelines of the signing that under the deal, all dead inmates will be autopsied, not just those with suspicions of foul play.
UP will provide technical expertise to conduct autopsies on bodies, led by forensic pathologist Raquel B. Del Rosario-Fortun.
Ms. Fortun said prison deaths should be treated as a health concern. She added that authorities should not just look for foul play, but also consider if those were preventable deaths.
She sought better healthcare for prisoners, noting that they should be accorded dignity even in death.
“Based on my professional experience both as a public defender and as a UN diplomat, when we help countries strengthen their forensic sciences, they are able to bring accountability in and out of government and across society and build the confidence of the citizens in the integrity of their government when they see justice served,” UNODC Regional Director Masood Karimipour said at the signing ceremony.
BuCor registered more than 4,600 prisoner deaths from 2020 to June 30, 2024. This year, BuCor counted 487 deaths, Mr. Catapang said.
The DoJ said the declaration emphasized the importance of the 2016 Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, or the Minnesota Protocol.
The document helps direct the investigation of custodial deaths. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana