Mom questions death of son in Barton jail
Brennan Bowley was arrested Tuesday for drug possession. By Thursday evening, he was dead
A mother is alleging another suspected drug overdose death at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.
Brennan Bowley died suddenly Thursday just after 10:30 p.m., says the mother of the 23-year-old east Mountain man.
“My son is gone,” said Tamara Bowley. “Something happened to my baby.”
She is questioning the medical care the young father received at the Barton Street jail.
She says she asked jail staff if he needed an ambulance hours before he died after he missed a court appearance because he was too ill to appear, even by video.
“I have a lot of questions,” said Bowley. “I do not want this brushed under the carpet. I want to know what went on with my son. Something went wrong.”
The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services confirmed a man was found unresponsive in his cell and treated by prison health-care staff.
Emergency services were called and the man was pronounced dead by paramedics, said the ministry.
“It would be inappropriate to comment publicly further as investigations are underway,” spokesperson Andrew Morrison said in a statement.
A coroner’s inquest into eight suspected overdose deaths at the Barton Street jail between 2012 and 2016 is scheduled for April 9. The six-week inquest was supposed to begin Jan. 2,
and before that in May 2016, but it has been postponed twice.
“Too many people have lost their lives in there,” said Bowley. “This should not have happened.”
A number of investigations automatically take place when a death occurs in a correctional facility, including by the Office of the Chief Coroner, the ministry and the local police.
“He was a fighter as am I,” said his mom. “I will never allow his death to be left unnoticed.”
Bowley said her son was healthy when he was arrested by Hamilton police in his car in front of their home Tuesday. She claims drugs including fentanyl were found during a police search after the arrest.
She believes her son was hiding drugs inside of his body when he went to jail.
The jail does have body scanner technology and the Ontario Public Service Employees union says every inmate is scanned when entering the prison.
“They’re not 100 per cent,” said Monte Vieselmeyer, the union’s Ontario Corrections Division chair about the reliability of the scanner technology.
“The bigger challenge with the types of drugs we’re dealing with now — the fentanyl and carfentanil — those types of drugs are a much smaller dosage and package,” he said. “They are much more difficult to identify if they are hidden on the body or internally in the body. Because of the smaller amounts required, they can be much more deadly.”
The young dad was showing signs of illness on Wednesday when he vomited in the prisoner’s box in court, says lawyer Derek Martin.
By Thursday he was too ill to appear in court in person, or even by video.
“That’s unusual,” said Martin. “Usually they are not so ill they can’t make their court appearances or at least a video appearance … If they are scheduled to be in court I would expect they would be quite ill if that is the reason they are not coming to court.”
When asked if he has any concerns about timely medical care at the jail, he said, “I certainly do now.”
Bowley said she called the jail about two hours before her son died to inquire about his health after he missed his court appearance.
“I called and asked, ‘Does my son need medical help?’” she says. “‘Does he need an ambulance?’ I was told, ‘No.’”
The ministry did not comment on any of the mother’s claims.
Vieselmeyer also did not comment directly on this case. But he is confident that inmates receive good medical care in jail.
“If an individual was sick and our medical staff was made aware, they would do whatever would be required to check out that individual and make sure they were satisfied any medical needs were being attended,” he said.
Bowley describes her son as an adoring dad to his two-year-old daughter.
“He’d spend time playing with his daughter,” said Bowley. “She called him ‘Daddy boy’ … She’s so much like him. She’s his mini-me.”
Bowley says her son loved music and his dogs. She is currently trying to get one of his dogs back from the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA after she got away during the arrest.
“I want my son’s dog back,” she said. “He would be devastated to know she’s there.”
He was the kind of friend who “would take his shirt off and give it to you,” says his mom.
“He was a colourful guy,” she said. “He was a fun guy. He had a huge amount of friends. Everyone liked him wherever he went.”
She acknowledges he’d been in trouble with the law more than once.
He was featured in Halton Regional Police’s Fugitive Fridays in June 2015 because he was wanted for break and enter, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failure to re-attend court. He turned himself into Hamilton police around the same time for property and driving-related offences.
“I’m not going to say he was an angel,” said his mother. “I always rode his ass about it.”
But the former Hill Park Secondary School student was trying to get his high school diploma, says his mom.
“He’d done a lot of programs in custody before and got a lot of credits,” she said.
“He didn’t just sit in there when he was there. He actually did something with his time.”
The 23-year-old was Bowley’s oldest child. She also has a 21-yearold son.
“I had two sons and now I only have one,” she said Saturday. “I’m up and down crying. I opened my eyes this morning and tears just started rolling.”
I’m not going to say he was an angel … I always rode his ass about it. TAMARA BOWLEY MOTHER OF BRENNAN BOWLEY