Puerto Rico Senate panel questions Corrections Department after rise in inmate deaths; fentanyl and drone deliveries cited

A Senate committee hearing on Aug. 5, 2021, opened an inquiry into a climb in inmate deaths inside Puerto Rico correctional institutions, focusing on the role of illicit drugs, institutional controls and gaps in medical and behavioral‑health care.

Senator Henry Newman Sayas, president of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Veterans Affairs, introduced Senate Resolution No. 99 to “study all aspects of public safety” and pressed the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DCR) on whether recent non‑natural deaths represent a failure of custodial responsibility. He said the committee will compile testimony and written submissions into a report. “Si ocurre que esta persona por causas no naturales pierde su vida es un fallo en el sistema… es un fallo del departamento de corrección,” Sayas said.

Ana Escobar Pavón, secretary of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, told senators the DCR follows the agency’s legal framework (Plan de Reorganización No. 2 de 2011 and Administrative Order AC‑2005‑04) and described the protocol for handling in‑custody deaths — scene preservation, written institutional reports, notification chains and case files. She provided…