Puerto Rico Senate questions medical panel, contractors after inmate released under Law 25 later committed murder

The Senate of Puerto Rico held a joint public hearing May 29 to investigate how medical evaluations under Law 25 (1992) were carried out in the case of Hermes Ávila, whose release after receiving a "pase extendido" preceded a later homicide. Senators pressed contracted correctional health clinicians and community supervision staff for details on forms, panel composition and record access.

The chair opened the hearing with the resolution ordering the probe and identified witnesses from the contracted provider and the correctional medical complex. Dr. Débora Arús Rosado, who testified she evaluated Ávila on Aug. 9, 2021, told senators she completed the standard evaluation form and relied on available documentation and observation in the medical dormitory. "I used my best clinical judgment at that time," Arús said. She acknowledged she did not always have the full historical files before her and that, at times, she worked without direct written access to the applicable regulation text.

Senators repeatedly noted that Ávila had prior negative evaluations in 2013, 2015 and 2019 that recommended against release and…