Guard dismisses claims he tipped off inmates
Inquest hears from officer implicated in 2011 death of Kevlin Sawa
A coroner’s inquest into the death of Kelvin Sawa at Niagara Detention Centre heard from a corrections officer inmates accused of taking an active role in setting up the attack that led to the 46-year-old’s suicide.
“I thought the accusation was silly,” corrections officer Don Shaver said.
Sawa, a Port Colborne cab driver, hanged himself at the detention centre on Aug. 15, 2011, after he was terrorized and beaten by inmates on the protective custody range.
Video of the activity on the range showed Sawa was spat on, kicked and hit in the common area. There were also reports an inmate forced a stick of deodorant down his throat. The torture ended when Sawa was given a noose and told to use it.
Two of the inmates, Jermey Hall, who the inquest heard effectively ran the range, and his lieutenant Cale Rose, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Sawa’s death.
Inmate Chris Boland told the court at Hall’s trial that Shaver told him Sawa was in jail “on bad charges” — sexual assault against a minor.
Another inmate, David Earle, said he heard Shaver say the same thing to Hall.
The video appeared to bolster the claims. Shaver could be seen talking to first Boland and then Hall. Less than a minute later, Hall was shown having his hands wrapped with torn bed sheets before beating Sawa in the shower, out of sight of video surveillance.
Shaver testified Monday he didn’t remember what he said to the inmates.
The first he heard about the allegations came from media reports from Hall’s trial.
Shaver said he didn’t even know who Sawa was until the call came that an inmate was in medical distress.
Shaver, who now works at a correctional facility in Toronto, admitted he had access to the Offender Tracking Information System which listed Sawa’s charges but that he didn’t use it.
“I never took an interest in any inmate’s charges,” he told the inquiry. “I stay neutral to all of it, sir.”
Shaver told the inquest jury that on the date Sawa was attacked the overwhelming concern of the inmates, as he made the rounds, was a suspect who shot up a St. Catharines flea market in a robbery attempt.
“They were all upset because of what he had done,” Shaver said. “They all wanted to know where the inmate would be housed.”
Niagara Regional Police investigated Shaver’s conduct after the trial, but nothing came of it.
The Ministry of Corrections and Public Safety’s oversight and investigations unit eventually reviewed his actions as well, one of which took place as recently as two weeks ago but decided not to initiate an investigation.
The inquest is being presided over by Dr. David Eden with Karen Shea as counsel to the coroner.
The jury, which is made up of two men and three women, will be invited to make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths at the end of the inquiry.
Shaver told the inquest ropes fashioned from bed sheets like the ones Sawa used to hang himself were common on the ranges, though considered contraband.
Hall and other inmates used them to lift milk bags full of water for weight training.
If the inmates kept the ropes out of sight, the corrections officers turned a blind eye.
“Any time you took something from an inmate it was a confrontation,” he said.
If the guards confiscated the ropes, the inmates would make more.
The lawyer for Sawa’s family, Jeffrey Manishen, asked Shaver if giving inmates access to proper exercise equipment might help. Shaver wasn’t so sure.
“You could have assaults with exercise equipment,” he said. “Anything you put into their hands can be used as a weapon.”