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 multi‑year statistics showing annual totals historically averaged roughly 38–47 deaths, with a marked increase in recent years and 59 deaths recorded in fiscal 2019–2020, 30 of them categorized as non‑natural.

Escobar highlighted the role of controlled substances in the rise. For fiscal 2019–2020, she said, “de estas treinta muertes, el ochenta y tres por ciento fue por abuso de sustancias controladas,” and identified fentanyl as a recently detected driver of lethal overdoses. She told the committee the agency has received ten recent death protocols that point to fentanyl in toxicology findings and that small amounts—“una cantidad tan ínfima como una cabeza de alfiler”—can be fatal.

Senators pressed the department on how contraband reaches inmates. Escobar said investigators have documented drones delivering packages to windows at the Ponce complex and in Bayamón, and that the DCR is coordinating with federal, state and municipal law‑enforcement partners to stop deliveries. She also described measures already under way or proposed: expanding intelligence work, reactivating an internal intelligence unit and the office of investigations (each with about 15 staff), installing additional surveillance and body‑scanner equipment, increasing paramedic‑licensed correctional officers and expanding detection with canine units and physical checks.

Committee members focused on treatment capacity and prevention. Senator José Vargas Vidot noted DCR figures that around 75% of incoming inmates have a history of controlled‑substance use and argued that treatment capacity is insufficient. Escobar confirmed the agency has programs in Aguadilla, Bayamón and Ponce and said the department is working to expand therapeutic community services and to revise protocols to ensure inmates identified with overdose risk do not return to the same housing without additional safeguards. She also said the DCR is considering legislative changes to enable compulsory treatment in cases where toxicology or clinical findings indicate imminent danger.

Lawmakers reviewed a recent high‑profile case in the Bayamón annex: Miguel Ocasio Santiago was found hanged in his cell after a recent outpatient psychiatric contact. Escobar said staff found the body between about 9:25 and 9:35 a.m., that medical notes at discharge had not specified removal of potentially dangerous items, and that the DCR has opened an investigation and requested full medical and institutional records for review. “No la hemos concluido hasta este momento… las circunstancias y las consecuencias van a ser críticas para aquellos que fallaron,” she told senators.

On emergency response, Escobar said Narcan is deployed across facilities with four to five nasal doses at control points per building and that some inmates have required multiple doses. Senators urged increasing doses available to officers given fentanyl’s potency.

The committee asked for additional data: the DCR agreed to provide within one week figures on the per‑inmate cost of medical treatment and a tally of pending or successful lawsuits tied to inmate deaths. Francisco Méndez Rivera, DCR legal staff, told the committee the department receives about 20–25 legal claims monthly and estimated one to two claims per month specifically related to inmate deaths.

The hearing closed with the chair thanking witnesses and confirming the committee will include written submissions from invited organizations in its forthcoming report. The DCR pledged to continue investigative and operational changes while the committee pursues follow‑up data and recommendations.