Every prison death to be autopsied, DOJ vows

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice has moved to stem more than 4,000 deaths in the prison system by signing a declaration on Thursday vowing to enhance investigation procedures.

The agreement, co-signed with the University of the Philippines Manila and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, aims to conduct autopsies on all deaths in facilities run by the Bureau of Corrections as part of a new set of protocols.

Autopsies will be conducted not only when family members suspect foul play as the cause of death of their relatives who were PDLs, or persons deprived of liberty, Gregorio Catapang Jr., the bureau chief, said on the sidelines of the signing event.

UP Manila, represented by forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun, will handle the autopsies while the UNODC will provide technical assistance.

The corrections bureau has registered 4,636 deaths of PDLs from 2020 to June 30, 2024, according to data from the DOJ. Of these, 487 deaths were registered from January 1 to June 2024.

Inmate deaths 'preventable'

For Fortun, such deaths could have been avoided if healthcare were the given an emphasis.

"It's a health concern... we should not only be looking for foul play, [but asking] are there preventable deaths among these?" she said, speaking at the event in mixed Filipino and English.

"We should come up with better healthcare for PDLs. It's not just because you're institutionalized, you're a prisoner, the society forgets about you," she explained.

Fortun also said there should be proper procedures for the bodies of the dead PDLs. Some of them were in "awful" conditions before examinations.

"There must be dignity in death," Fortun said. "We should not be leaving the bodies lying there, they should have at least a body bag."