The ‘natural death’ surpasses the violent ones in prisons

The skin tight to the bones portrays in a photo the fragile health condition of Julio. “He wasn’t like that, he was robust,” says his father about the weight he lost in the last two years due to the tuberculosis he contracted in the Litoral Penitentiary.

Due to his illness and due to his father’s writings, he was moved from pavilion 12 to the Transitory and, later, to the Regional, but his health has not improved. Last week he was transferred to the Guasmo hospital, where he receives the care that, according to his relative, he did not have in prison: “The doctors did not enter and the last six months he did not receive medicine.” Given this, his father brought him the drugs, but – he assures – they have not allowed him to enter.

From 2018 to November 12 of this year, 989 people deprived of liberty have died in the country’s prisons. 49% of those deaths were classified as ‘natural death’; 43% violent; 7%, ‘suicide’; and 1%, ‘accidental’, according to the National Comprehensive Care Service (SNAI), responsible for the 53 social rehabilitation centers that house 37,347 detained offenders.

The SNAI did not attend an interview with this newspaper to explain what they describe as a “natural death”, a death that the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) indicates that it occurs “as a result of an illness or old age.”

In the country’s prisons, the number of inmates who die of old age is not known, and those who suffer from an illness do not die from their own ailments but – their relatives say – because there are no doctors to treat them, they do not give them medicine and –If they require surgeries or treatments in external hospitals– they are only allowed to leave when their conditions are critical.

My husband paid to have him taken to the polyclinic and to have the tests done (…), a colleague (inmate) gave him the serums

Mónica Cedeño, a relative of an inmate who had tuberculosis and was murdered in prison.

Monica Cedeño adds that “on Tuesdays you paid to enter medicine.”

Access to a health center is considered by those deprived of liberty a “privilege” that, according to their relatives, is granted by the heads of the pavilions to their friends. “We made him a package with pills, clothes and toiletries, but they did not allow him to enter,” laments the son of another defendant who was imprisoned for two and a half months, while the relative of another sick inmate assures that they had to buy the cream to the sores on his arms and legs.

Manuel and Mario, two neighborhood friends in prison for the theft of cell phones, murdered in prison massacre

Deaths in which external factors mediate are not a ‘natural death’, considers the World Health Organization: All those ‘preventable deaths’, which occurred due to’ complications in medical care ‘, qualify as’ deaths from external causes ‘, not’ natural death ‘.

The Ministry of Health gave an interview to this newspaper, but did not comment on the lack of care and medicines in prisons, which the relatives of people deprived of liberty claim.

There, In prisons, says the ombudsman (e), César Córdova, inmates with catastrophic, rare or chronic diseases are at greater risk, because if they do not receive adequate health care – he says – they could die. Thus, The Ombudsman’s Office presented at the end of November a protection action so that prisoners, especially vulnerable groups, have access to consultations and drugs since the right to health is a “constitutional obligation”.

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While, According to the records of the MSP, most of the prisoners fall ill from respiratory processes or gastrointestinal infections. In total, the ministry reports 36,877 medical care in the 47 centers in the prisons.

The prisoners go by “free demand,” says a doctor who worked in a prison in Guayaquil, but they also do it – he adds – according to a list of fifteen people, who each pavilion delivers to the guides. This newspaper did not know the criteria for how the list is drawn up.

In 2020, according to SNAI’s accountability, 37 prisoners died from COVID-19, a figure included in the 200 deaths – the highest peak since 2018 – that SNAI described as ‘natural deaths’. (I)

Food complaints continue in jail

Claims for food received by people deprived of liberty in prisons multiplied in the last two months as a result of the fights and conflicts registered in the Litoral Penitentiary, which caused the temporary interruption of the service. Relatives of inmates told this newspaper that there are days when they are not given one, two and even three meals, which are “bad” and “with small portions.”

The problem is greater for those who suffer from chronic and catastrophic diseases, because they require a special diet. “Medicine is 50% and the other 50% is diet,” emphasizes César Córdova, ombudsman (e), who assures that if a person with pernicious anemia does not receive a diet rich in iron, he is “predestined to die.” .

Food in prisons, without a contract for 18 months

However, the company that provides the food, The Fattoria assures that they have two ‘good’ options, among them a diet “with less fat, leaner protein, with a larger portion of salad, low in salt and sugars” for 2,500 prisoners, whose names –a spokesperson affirms– It is given by each prison.

This diet is included in the last contract awarded to La Fattoria until December 2019. Since then no other has been signed. La Fattoria has continued as a supplier for almost a decade.

The director of this firm, who requested that his identity be reserved, assures that they also give a soft diet for the recently operated, after notification of each rehabilitation center. (I)