Puerto Rico Department of Corrections Paid Nearly Half a Million Dollars to Contractor Without Proof of Services

The Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR, in Spanish) paid nearly half a million dollars to Health Strategy Consulting (HSC) to “analyze and evaluate the overall compliance” of prison health service providers, yet the agency now says it has no evidence of any work the company performed.

HSC is owned by communications consultant Ramón Alejandro Pabón García, currently the spokesperson for the nominated Secretary of Health, Víctor Ramos Otero. Between 2008 and 2024, Pabón García secured over $5 million in contracts with nearly two dozen government entities and municipalities, all under New Progressive Party (PNP) administrations, through several corporations.

Meanwhile, correctional health services have faced intense scrutiny since last year. First, a man convicted of femicide, Hermes Ávila Vázquez, was released on false medical grounds, leading to an outcry, among other things, because, once free, he killed another woman. More recently, a Civil Rights Commission report revealed a high mortality rate in the island’s penal institutions.

According to documents that the DCR provided to the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), the agency paid $483,460 to HSC, $67,460 more than stipulated in the contracts valid between 2017 and 2022. The Contract Registry of the Puerto Rico Office of the Comptroller (OCPR, in Spanish) shows no evidence of any amendment increasing the contract amounts.

All contracts between the DCR and HSC stipulated that the company had to present a report of the work performed along with the invoices submitted to the agency. However, in response to requests from the CPI, the agency could only provide a table with a breakdown of billing that contains neither the original invoices nor the billing reports. It doesn’t even include a brief description of the alleged work performed and paid for.

The CPI also requested from the DCR the evaluation reports from 2019 to 2022 that HSC issued on the compliance of the health services provider company Physician Correctional, which has a contract valid until 2028. The agency did not provide them.

Following a lawsuit against the DCR and in response to the request for evaluation reports, the agency certified to the CPI that, in its records, it has “no report from the company Health Strategy [Consulting].”

Pabón García, in written statements sent to the CPI, claimed that he prepared the compliance reports and presented them to the Joint [Oversight] Committee, a committee composed of representatives from the agency and Physician Correctional that oversees the correctional health provider’s contractual obligations.

“[They were delivered] directly to former DCR Secretary Ana Escobar, [who] to the best of my recollection, was the only person authorized to receive our observations, and Secretary Escobar participated in many meetings of the Joint Committee,” he wrote. However, he did not provide copies of the documents as the CPI requested.

Pabón García alleged that he was not responsible for submitting work reports along with the invoices, contrary to what the contracts stipulate.

“The DCR has a billing intervention department that is obligated to verify that any payment is made only on invoices that have the supervisor’s signature, who certifies the services provided as correct. Additionally, the invoice must be accompanied by a description of the work done and hours invested,” he added.

Not only did the DCR certify to the court that it has no reports issued by HSC, but Physician Correctional, which was part of that joint committee, also certified the same.

Contrary to Pabón García’s claims, former Secretary Escobar Pabón told the CPI that she did not participate in the joint committee meetings.

“According to what is established, the Secretary does not participate, but other people within the department did,” Escobar Pabón said in a conversation with the CPI after the DCR government transition hearing in November, before leaving office.

Likewise, directors of UTICORP, the company that the DCR contracted in 2023 to audit the performance of Physician Correctional, testified during a Senate public hearing in September 2024, that they were unaware of any previous company auditing or reviewing Physician Correctional’s compliance. After being hired, they did not receive audit reports or previous investigations evaluating the correctional health provider’s performance, they told senators.

“From [publications in] the press, it is apparent that there was a company before us, but we’ve had no contact with that company,” said Jorge Galva Rodríguez, advisor and legal representative of UTICORP, during the public hearing.

Escobar Pabón has stated that UTICORP and HSC provided different services: HSC was a liaison between the agency and Physician Correctional (corporately registered as Physician HMO Inc.) and participated in the joint oversight committee meetings.

Besides providing liaison services, the $10,000-a-month contract stated that HSC would analyze and evaluate the compliance of the contract between the DCR and Physician Correctional in areas such as utilization control, quality control program, case management, permits, and accreditations. HSC was also supposed to evaluate the company’s economic capacity and sufficiency and its subcontracting, as well as “develop coordinated or random compliance inspections of medical areas and the Correctional Medical Center.” “It was a liaison, it was the one who intervened or was between Physician Correctional and the DCR and acted as a communicator between both parties. It ensured, obviously, contractual compliance and the services offered to the population,” said Escobar Pabón.

In contrast, according to the former secretary, UTICORP did not fulfill the liaison role but audited the medical records of the correctional population. The contract between the DCR and UTICORP, for $450,000, expired in June 2024.

Despite paying HSC nearly half a million dollars to evaluate the correctional health provider’s compliance, UTICORP had concluded that Physician Correctional “is in substantial and material non-compliance with established prison health standards, the different orders of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in the Morales Feliciano case — a long-running class-action lawsuit over prison conditions — and the existing 2018 contract between the DCR and Physician Correctional,” according to documents obtained by the CPI.

Physician Correctional has been under scrutiny since April 2024, after it was revealed that a panel of company doctors erroneously recommended the release of femicide Ávila Vázquez, who, shortly after being released for an alleged health condition, murdered Ivette Joan Meléndez Vega.

In September 2024, the CPI first reported on the contracts that the DCR had awarded to HSC and revealed that Physician Correctional faces dozens of lawsuits for denying medical services to inmates.

Change of President

Originally, the contracts between the DCR and HSC, initiated in December 2017, required the services of a doctor to serve as a liaison and ensure compliance in the provision of Correctional Health Services Corporation, which provided services to the prison population before Physician Correctional. Luis V. Clas Fernández, who is a doctor and was president of HSC, signed that contract.

Clas Fernández, by virtue of the agreement between the DCR and HSC, continued as a liaison with the agency when, in 2018, the DCR replaced Correctional Health Services with Physician Correctional to provide medical services to inmates. The contract between the DCR and Physician Correctional establishes that there must be a medical liaison officer — a doctor duly licensed in Puerto Rico — who serves as a link between the agency and the correctional health services provider.

For years, no one has been employed within the agency for that duty, the CPI revealed in September 2024. The agreement established with HSC delegated part of that responsibility, according to the former secretary.

Escobar Pabón told the CPI that she did not renew the contract with HSC due to a leadership change in the company. In 2020, Clas Fernández was appointed director of the San Juan municipality Health System.

“Unfortunately, its president, the president of the company, went to work in another area, Dr. Clas [Fernández], so we could not continue using their services,” said Escobar Pabón.

However, that statement by Escobar Pabón is false.

The last contract Clas Fernández signed expired in December 2020, but in September 2021, Escobar Pabón herself signed a contract with HSC, represented at that time by Pabón García, one of the main communicators of the New Progressive Party (PNP) administrations for over a decade.

Since Pabón García is not a doctor, the contract with the DCR changed the language and added the need to hire a health services administrator. In addition to being a communications strategist, Pabón García is licensed in hospital administration.

Pabón García took the reins of HSC in January 2021, when Clas Fernández’s appointment in the Municipality of San Juan was confirmed. The corporate resolution documenting Clas Fernández’s departure as director of the company does not clarify whether he would receive salaries or dividends from the company. The CPI contacted Clas Fernández to request an interview but received no response.

Pabón García’s connection with HSC, however, began when he was the executive director of the Center for Research, Education, and Medical Services for Diabetes, the public entity responsible for coordinating and integrating all educational, clinical, and research services related to diabetes in Puerto Rico. Pabón García awarded four contracts to HSC totaling $100,130 for consulting services between 2013 and 2015, according to the OCPR registry.

Inconsistent Record with Statements

At a recent health summit of the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association, the CPI approached Pabón García — who was accompanying the designated Secretary of Health — on this topic. The communicator refused to answer questions at that time and said he would consult with the owner of HSC on the matter. When pressed by the CPI to know who the owner of the company was, Pabón García acknowledged that it was his.

Three days later, in written statements, Pabón García stated that during the period of the last HSC contract with the DCR, the company “focused on addressing” the COVID-19 emergency.

“During the last six months of the HSC contract under my direction, I can affirm that the work plan approved by the DCR was fully executed, which, at that historical moment, was adjusted to respond exclusively to the health crisis caused by COVID-19, prioritizing the provision of essential services at a critical time for the correctional health system, which was successful and managed to contain infections like no other prison system nationwide,” said the corporation’s president.

However, the last contract with HSC was awarded a year and a half after the Government of Puerto Rico declared the pandemic emergency.

HSC, under the presidency of Clas Fernández, provided services until June 2020 and then was awarded a new contract to provide services only in December of that year, according to the OCPR’s Contract Registry. It was not until September 2021 that the DCR signed the contract with Pabón García.

The health services administrator claimed that the last contract with Corrections was canceled six months before its expiration, which was June 30, 2022. However, there is no record of that cancellation in the OCPR. Additionally, the billing table that the DCR provided to the CPI shows that the agency paid $10,000 for invoices issued between September 2021 and June 2022, totaling $100,000, which was the full amount of the contract.

Far-Reaching Ties

Despite the multiple responsibilities imposed by the agreement with Corrections, Pabón García simultaneously provided communication services to other government entities through his companies Tácticas & Inc. and Alogi Inc.

Between September 2021 and June 2022, Tácticas & Inc. provided services to the Economic Development Bank for $5,000 per month, the Health Insurance Administration for $4,995 monthly, the General Services Administration of Puerto Rico for $2,000 monthly, and the Municipality of Canóvanas for up to $4,750 per month. He also received up to $6,000 monthly from the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA) for providing services to then-resident commissioner Jenniffer González, who currently, as governor, keeps Pabón García on the communications team of the Executive Branch.

Between August 2021 and June 30, 2022, Tácticas & Inc. also had a $2,500 contract for administration services of the CDT (Diagnosis and Treatment Center, in English) of the Municipality of Maunabo.

In his proposals, Pabón García describes Tácticas as a “public relations firm,” but does not detail who makes up his team.

Simultaneously, another of his companies, Alogi Inc., had contracts with the Municipality of Vega Alta for $8,000 monthly to work with the COVID-19 tracking system from July to December 2021.

Between September 2021 and June 2022 — during the duration of the HSC contract with the DCR — Pabón García managed to have contracts that, at times during that period, could produce more than $33,000 monthly.

Highly Regarded in Canóvanas

Tácticas & Inc. currently has an active contract with the General Services Administration for $5,000 monthly and is responsible for communications for the current designated Secretary of Health, although no contract with the Department of Health has been registered in the OCPR.

The company also has a contract with the Municipality of Canóvanas. This communications services firm has held continuous agreements with Mayor Lornna Soto since 2014. The contracting already totals nearly $421,000.

Since 2022, through his company Alogi Inc., Pabón García has had contracts with this municipality for medical consultation services and administration of the municipal case investigation and COVID-19 contact tracing system and for the operation of health facilities. In total, Alogi obtained contracts with the Municipality for nearly $92,000 in the last two years. The last contract of this firm expired on December 31, 2024.

The Mayor also signed a contract with Pabón García in July 2022 for HSC to provide health administration services and act as a liaison among the Mayor, the COVID-19 tracking system, and the Emergency and Medical Management Office. For $4,000 monthly, the company also had to have an internist and a general practitioner “on call,” among other tasks. That contract expired in December 2022.

Since the administration of Governor Luis Fortuño in 2009, Tácticas Inc. and Tácticas & Inc., as the company was later called, have accumulated over $4.5 million in contracts with agencies, public corporations, the Senate, and PNP-controlled municipalities.

Similarly, Alogi Inc. has accrued $262,850 in contracts with the Municipalities of Vega Alta and Canóvanas since February 2021. The corporation was registered in September 2020.

In the OCPR, there are also $120,000 in contracts in the name of Ramón A. Pabón García for services to PRFAA in 2023 and 2024. Under this name, there are also contracts dating back to 2008 with the Senate, the Legislative Services Office of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly, and the Municipality of Maunabo. These contracts, including those with PRFAA, total $240,440.

Between 2012 and 2022, HSC maintained contracts totaling $615,130 with the State Insurance Fund Corporation; the Center for Research, Education, and Medical Services for Diabetes; the DCR; and the Municipality of Canóvanas, according to the OCPR’s Contract Registry. In total, since 2008, Pabón García and his companies have amassed over $5 million in contracts with 18 government entities, including agencies, the Senate, and municipalities.

Pabón García also registered the company BPUMF, LLC in April 2021, with which he created an anonymous social media page attacking the Electrical and Irrigation Industry Workers Union (UTIER) amid the LUMA contract. LUMA is the private electric company responsible for the distribution and transmission of energy in Puerto Rico, and the maintenance and modernization of the electrical infrastructure. In 2022, UTIER and its then-president, Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, filed a lawsuit for damages for alleged cyber harassment. BPUMF, LLC stated, among other things, that the alleged statements are covered by the doctrines of opinion and rhetorical hyperbole. BPUMF, LLC was dissolved in 2022.

In August 2024, UTIER filed a motion to dismiss, requesting the filing and closure of the lawsuit with prejudice — meaning a definitive termination of the case, so it cannot be brought to trial again. Judge Ladi Buono de Jesús, of the San Juan Court of First Instance, granted the motion and filed the case.