Inmate died on last day of Barton jail labour dispute

On the very last day of a five-week labour dispute by correctional officers at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, William Acheson was found unresponsive in his cell, dead from drugs that appear to have been freely circulating around his unit.

It was just before breakfast on the morning of Sept. 12, 2012, and the staff who found the 42-year-old were two parole officer managers without experience inside the Barton jail, who had volunteered to cover shifts during the labour dispute, an inquest into eight drug-related inmate deaths heard Wednesday.

Both testified to not being required to have CPR or defibrillator training and stepping back to allow others to try to save Acheson after calling a “code white” for a medical emergency. But Acheson, who was described as blue or ashen, with his jaw slack and eyes partially open, was beyond resuscitation and was pronounced dead at 8:14 a.m.

Richard Austin, a now-retired deputy director of community safety overseeing parole officers in eastern Ontario, and Robert Feere, a manager overseeing probation officers in the Hamilton area, both testified they were not aware that another inmate in the same range had been taken to hospital for an overdose the night before. Autopsy results would later show Acheson died of heroin poisoning.

That morning, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and correctional officers had come to a resolution and a unit-by-unit search was happening before the officers returned to work. The search had not yet reached unit 5B Right, where Acheson was found dead in cell 18.

According to an agreed statement of facts read by Crown Karen Shea, the coroner’s counsel, there is surveillance footage showing inmates coming and going from a particular cell the day before Acheson died, implying this was the likely source of drugs.

After another inmate overdosed Sept. 11, his cellmates — identified as M.B. and J.L. — were moved to Acheson’s cell, Shea said. M.B. had just arrived at the 5B Right unit that day and the surveillance footage shows it was his cell that other inmates had been visiting.

At some point during resuscitation attempts, a cap from a suction device that was being used to attempt to remove vomit became lodged in Acheson’s throat. However, autopsy results showed it was not a factor in his death as he was already beyond saving, Shea said.

During the testimony Acheson’s parents sat listening. They declined to address the jury or speak with media.

Earlier Wednesday, the inquest heard from a sergeant in the jail who oversaw the search of a unit the day after another inmate, Louis Unelli, died in March 2012.

“The drugs they take nowadays are much stronger and much harder to detect,” said Jeffery White during the inquest into eight drug-related deaths of inmates between 2012 and 2016.

The inquest continues Thursday.