Family has questions after inmate dies of suspected overdose
Death comes four months after inquest into drug use at Barton Street jail
Another inmate has died of a suspected drug overdose inside the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, once again leaving behind grieving friends and family searching for answers.
Christopher John Sharp, of London, Ont., died after being found in distress in the Barton Street jail Friday. He was 53.
He was known as “Johnny” to family and “Sharpy” to his friends, said his mom, Carol. She said he spent about 30 years in and out of jails and prisons, where he was subjected to brutal assaults.
But to loved ones, he was so much more than a convict and addict, she said.
The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services confirmed an inmate died at the jail on Friday. However, spokesperson Brent Ross said it would be inappropriate to comment further because the matter is under investigation.
The death comes four months after the conclusion of a large-scale inquest into eight inmate overdose deaths that exposed widespread drug use inside the detention centre, as well as pervasive issues around access to health care, gaps in security and poor communication among agencies.
The jury made 62 recommendations that spanned all aspects of corrections, including stricter admission, better searches, faster access to health care, and better communication between corrections officials and police. The province said it would seriously consider all recommendations. It had six months to respond.
Tracy Sharp, Sharp’s sister-in-law, said the family is in shock. She said that, in some ways, they expected to get a call one day that he had overdosed, but she did not think it would happen in jail.
Johnny Sharp had struggled with addiction since his teens, and it often appeared to be the fuel behind his crimes. Like so many, the justice system seemed to be a “revolving door” for her brother-in-law. “They put you in, you do your time, then you get out with no money, nothing but the clothes you were arrested in, and then they expect you to be a productive person in society,” she said.
Yet Tracy said she often struggled to see that side of her brother-in-law in the “big kid” who would get down on the floor to play with her two kids. He called her “Sis.”
“I knew the sober and clean guy ... or at least that day sober and clean guy,” she said, adding that those with addictions can seem like “Jekyll and Hyde.”
Tracy said he was a talented tattoo artist, doing a Blues Brothers tattoo for his brother, and artist, beginning a shark mural in her son’s room.
“He didn’t get to finish it,” Tracy said. Johnny Sharp had a large circle of friends and was well liked, she said. Even police officers who had dealings with him have called the family to offer condolences.
The family is still trying to figure out what happened, and how nobody saw Sharp until it was too late.
The issue of supervision came up at the super inquest this spring. One of the jury’s recommendations was real-time monitoring of inmates on security cameras between correctional officers’ rounds.
There have been some upgrades at the jail in recent years, including the addition of full-body scanners used on admission. Yet drugs continue to find their way inside.
Inquests into two other recent suspected overdose deaths of inmates have been called. Ryan McKechnie, 34, died in June 2017 and Brennan Bowley, 23, died in January.