---
Members of the Incoming Transition Committee expressed concerns this week regarding the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), indicating it exhibits “significant administrative shortcomings and is in chaos,” following testimony from agency officials at a governmental transition hearing.
“The overall agreement was that this department requires substantial, significant reforms and finds itself in a precarious situation,” stated Jorge Colberg Toro during a press briefing on Monday after the hearing.
Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz, leading the transition team for governor-elect Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon, noted: “This is an agency that the new administration needs to scrutinize and identify what substantial reforms can be implemented.”
“We harbor serious worries about the situation, having observed considerable administrative lapses, an absence of public policy, dubious decision-making, and financial management that is not [handled] appropriately or meticulously,” Rivera Cruz remarked.
During the hearing, DCR Secretary Ana Escobar Pabón proclaimed that she will resolve the status of the eight employees involved in the case of Hermes Ávila Vázquez before completing her tenure, who was a convicted murderer released early due to health issues and later committed another homicide.
“I accept my accountability and I will act on it,” Escobar Pabón stated when queried by Colberg Toro during the hearing.
Concerning Physician Correctional, the entity responsible for providing medical services in the correctional facilities on the island, she stated that she will not terminate the contract, although she is awaiting the outcome from the Licensing Board regarding the doctors associated with the release process mentioned earlier.
So far, only one nurse who had a romantic involvement with Ávila Vázquez has been dismissed.
Ávila Vázquez, who admitted guilt for the femicide of 56-year-old Ivette Joan Meléndez Vega in Manatí in April, had been paroled in April 2023 under Law 25 of 1992. His parole was granted based on assessments from doctors stating that he had severe health issues.
During the question session with Colberg Toro, it was highlighted that the agency has not updated the statistics it is required to publish on various profiles, some of which have not been refreshed since 2019. The official maintained that she either has current information or is in the process of obtaining it.
“I commit to retrieving all data necessary from the Department’s statistics division and I am astonished that the statistical data we gather is absent, because if there’s one office responsible, aside from all others within the Department, and that fully adheres to data submission to the Statistics Institute, it is the agency’s statistics and information sector,” Escobar Pabón affirmed.
During Sen. Juan Zaragoza Gómez’s question round, the DCR secretary was queried about utilizing non-recurring federal funds for ongoing payments. While she refuted the claim of employing federal funds for such uses, she later conceded that $24 million from the American Rescue Plan Act is being allocated for the $500 salary hikes for correctional officers. She indicated that once the funds are depleted on December 31 of this year, the central government will need to budget resources to continue these payments.
