Inquests into two prison deaths postponed due to pandemic

Two inquests conducted by the Saskatchewan Coroners Service that were scheduled to take place this spring were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both inquests were to examine the separate deaths of two men serving federal sentences in Saskatchewan in 2017.

Otto Edner Hansen, 46, died in custody at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in October 2017; the inquest into his death was scheduled to take place April 20 to 24 in Saskatoon.

Hansen had been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of Deborah Lynne Smith in Moose Jaw and began his sentence in March 2011.

In a media release, the Correctional Service of Canada said Hansen was serving an indeterminate sentence.

He was discovered unresponsive in his cell at about 3 a.m. Oct. 25, 2017 by an officer conducting a routine check in the unit, a media release issued in 2017 said. Staff administered First Aid and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but Hansen was pronounced dead at the scene.

An inquest into the death of Daniel James Tokarchuk, 44, who died in June 2017 while in custody at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, was scheduled to take place April 27 to May 1 in Prince Albert.

Tokarchuk was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the killing of a Hells Angels associate in Manitoba in 2002.

A CSC spokesman said Tokarchuk was found in his living quarters in the prison’s minimum security unit. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A spokesperson said in an email that the Coroners Service hopes to reschedule the postponed inquests in the fall if the public health order permits and they will be rescheduled in the order in which they were postponed.