The Department of Corrections Adult Correctional Facility in Mangilao is shown Sunday, May 7, 2023. On Monday, May 8, 2023, the prison announced a detainee died April 29, 2023, at Guam Memorial Hospital.
HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Another detainee at the Department of Corrections died last month, the agency confirmed Tuesday.
On April 27, according to DOC Maj. Antone Aguon, a local detainee housed at the Mangilao facility was admitted to Guam Memorial Hospital for “an undisclosed medical condition.”
“On April 29, 2023, at about 5:17 p.m., with his family present, and under medical supervision, the detainee passed away,” Aguon concluded in his two-sentence press release attached in an email that added no further comments will be made on the death.
This was the second time in April a detainee was pronounced dead at Guam’s public hospital.
According to Post files, on April 10 an officer discovered an unresponsive detainee, a 36-year-old man, who was transported to GMH, where he was pronounced dead by medical staff.
No other information could be released at the time because of Guam Police Department and DOC Internal Affairs investigations, however, police spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella confirmed with The Guam Daily Post on Tuesday that no foul play was involved in the April 10 death.
Inmate deaths
Prior to the two deaths in April, two inmates at DOC died in the past year, Post files state.
The first was Cesar Dizon, a murderer serving a life sentence at the prison. He was allegedly stabbed by another inmate, M.B. Koto, on July 31, 2022.
Koto has since been charged with aggravated murder and was accused of stabbing Dizon 10 times in the chest, according to court documents.
Koto’s case is ongoing in the Superior Court of Guam.
After an internal investigation was completed in November 2022, the DOC officer assigned to the unit where Dizon was found was discovered to have “followed all supervision policies,” Post files state.
The second inmate who died in DOC custody in the past year was 45-year-old Michael John Mendiola Jr., who died in October 2022.
Mendiola was detained at DOC at the time for violating a probation order when he experienced a medical condition and was transported to the hospital.
He was later pronounced dead at GMH, according to Post files.
