Family of prisoner who woke up on autopsy table call for release

THE family of a Spanish prisoner who was pronounced dead by three doctors before waking up as he was being prepared for autopsy have demanded he be released from jail immediately.

Gonzalo Montoya Jimenez, 29, began snoring on an autopsy table in a morgue in Asturias four hours after his death was certified at a local prison on Sunday morning. He was awake and recovering in hospital yesterday as authorities opened their investigations.

Montoya Jimenez was discovered in his cell by guards at around 8am on Sunday, showing no signs of life, according to officials. His death was certified by the doctor on the overnight shift, a second on duty that morning, and finally by a forensic specialist, before he was transported to the morgue.

It was revealed yesterday that Montoya Jimenez had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates. Tests have indicated that the coma caused by the overdose, along with severe hypothermia, may have masked Montoya Jimenez’s vital signs.

The 29-year-old has seven months left to serve of his sentence, for stealing scrap metal.

Family members gathered at the hospital in the town of Oviedo said they would be seeking Montoya Jimenez’s immediate release as compensation for what they called negligence. Luis Manuel Montoya, his uncle, said: “We don’t want him to go back to jail. If he goes in, he will come out as a body.”