No one to blame for prisoner’s suicide, inquiry determines

Report clears police, correctional staff

There was little that staff at an Alberta correctional facility could have done differently to prevent the 2012 suicide of an inmate in an isolation cell, a public fatality inquiry has concluded.

Brent Miro Matkowski, 47, hanged himself in a cell at the Peace River Correctional Centre on May 12, 2012.

Alberta Justice and Solicitor General released provincial court Judge Claus K. Thietke’s report on Matkowski’s death on Friday.

“Twenty-four hour monitoring of every inmate ... would prevent every suicide attempt,” Thietke wrote. “While effective, such action is not appropriate.”

In November 2007, Matkowski pleaded guilty to a 2006 sexual assault “upon a male person,” the report said. He was to be sentenced the following February, but never showed up to court and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The warrant remained outstanding for four years, during which time Matkowski was living openly in Spirit River.

In 2012, an RCMP constable ran into Matkowski and told him to come to the detachment to deal with the warrant. Matkowski agreed.

However, the constable later spoke to a friend of Matkowski’s on the phone, who said Matkowski was talking about killing himself.

Matkowski later told the constable that he wasn’t suicidal and had much to live for, including his daughter, a new girlfriend and his dogs. Thietke found the officer acted reasonably in concluding Matkowski was not at risk of harming himself.

Matkowski was taken into custody and admitted to the correctional centre on March 8, 2012. During a self-harm screening, he said he had never attempted suicide and was not suicidal.

The next day, Matkowski began to show signs of alcohol withdrawal. A heavy drinker, he became agitated, disoriented and began to hallucinate.

He was given alcohol withdrawal drugs and placed in an isolation cell.

At 2:30 p.m. on March 12, a nurse asked Matkowski if he knew where he was.

“In hell,” he replied.

At 5:23 p.m., a correctional officer found him hanging from a noose fashioned from torn bedding, attached to a door hinge designed to be suicide-proof.

“There is nothing in evidence to suggest that a failure to follow policies contributed in any way to Mr. Matkowski’s death,” Thietke wrote.

He agreed with two recommendations from Matkowski’s family: that inmates should be allowed regular showers “as a basic right” (Matkowski was not able to shower regularly during his time in jail, reportedly affecting his mental health), and that inmates should be subject to “meaningful and effective” monitoring.