"I don't think I can get out of here alive!" were the last words Shannel said to her Aunt Laura during the only visit she received on May 25, 2022. Eight days later, on June 2, 2022, at just 23 years old, our beloved Shannel suffered a violent death through an alleged "suicide" in the Bayamón Women's Prison in Puerto Rico.
No words can describe the pain, anger, and damage our family suffered by losing Shannel, a mental health patient who also orphaned a four-year-old girl.
The secretary of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, Ana Escobar, has given many versions of what happened. However, everything needs to be more consistent and transparent. The authorities have only left us with more questions than answers since the arrest until today. No investigation has produced a concrete report that explains the truth.
Finally, Governor Pedro Pierluisi has never responded to our request to form an independent committee to investigate what happened with her death, which is still in dispute. Organizations in the PARE Committee sent a letter to the Governor and Ana Escobar on June 10, 2022, requesting that the family have access to all the information about the circumstances in which Shannel died and that an external committee is assigned to investigate thoroughly. Unfortunately, Governor Pedro Pierluisi has yet to respond.
- Regardless of her mental health condition, every human has the right to dignity. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Physician Correctional health providers are responsible for what happened there due to the mismanagement of their staff and for not fulfilling their obligation to provide services that help the moral and social rehabilitation of persons deprived of their liberty. In addition, their responsibility is to protect the lives of those in custody.
- Department of Correction never completed the psychiatric evaluation issued by a judge. Not providing her with mental health treatment shows a willful disregard for her need for medical care and treatment for her health condition, which constitutes an imposition of cruel and unusual punishment, outlawed by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- At the time of her death, she was in maximum security. However, a mental health patient cannot be in isolation without supervision.
Shannel Colón Ponce's family demands:
1. Justice and a process of transparency and open communication in clarifying Shannel's death.
2. To approve an independent committee to investigate everything that happened to Shannel.
3. To put into force the due security protocols of the existing laws that protect the rights of all inmates.
4. End the use of excessive force and degrading punishments to inmates to prevent deaths like Shannel Colón Ponce.
5. That the Civil Rights Commission demand that the Legislative Assembly allocate sufficient funds to intensify the improvement of correctional facilities.
Please, sign this petition to help us publicize the deplorable conditions and suffering that inmates go through in the prisons of Puerto Rico. And to let the Government of Puerto Rico know that we will not tolerate the crimes committed against the inmates in Puerto Rico.