Even in death, prison inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) can reveal much about how they lived inside the national penitentiary, particularly the medical issues that led to their demise, through forensic pathology.
With this in mind, the Department of Justice (DOJ) signed a declaration of cooperation on Thursday with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), designating the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila as the facility where deceased PDLs can undergo autopsies and death investigations of “a high standard.”
Dr. Raquel Fortun, the forensic pathologist spearheading the project, said it may also help in the development of a better healthcare system for PDLs. For Fortun, the act of giving them a proper autopsy in itself makes the project laudable. “Not just because you’re a prisoner, society forgets about you. There must be dignity in death,” she said.
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