Inmate who fought for others dies in jail
LONDON, ONT. James Pigeau could tough out a jail scrap, endure the scars from seeing fellow inmates die, and in the long weeks of facing nothing but cement and steel, produce haunting sketches from behind bars.
In articulate letters to Postmedia News, he detailed the weeklong lockdowns inmates endured and harsh conditions at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC).
In frequent phone calls, he told stories of the daily battles for fresh air, showers, yard duty, lawyer visits, phone calls, health care and dignity. Pigeau was a fighter. But he couldn’t beat the drugs at EMDC.
Pigeau, 32, died from a suspected overdose, possibly fentanyl, at the troubled provincial jail Sunday, sources say.
His death has left his family and a young daughter reeling, and fellow inmates without a particularly strong advocate for their rights.
“He really did understand the injustices of the system and wanted to lend a hand in correcting it,” said London lawyer Kevin Egan, who represents hundreds of inmates and their families in seeking redress from the province over conditions at EMDC.
Pigeau’s intelligence and experience provided great insight and detailed information about EMDC that has guided legal action, Egan said.
“He was a decent man. He had a troubled youth and he never really was able to break away from that propensity to get in trouble with the law. He was never able to fully rehabilitate. The things he experienced in jail didn’t help.”
Egan recalled a conversation he had with Pigeau at the jail.
“He never thought he’d use it (fentanyl). But then he thought, what the hell? What else is there to do?” Egan recalled.
Pigeau is the sixth inmate to die at EMDC in the seven months since June 2017. Three died from suspected overdoses, with fentanyl the possible source in all three, and one committed suicide while in withdrawal from fentanyl.
A synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, fentanyl swept into London last year and correctional officers warned the impact would be felt in the jail.
The province has been promising since the spring of 2016 to install at EMDC’s main facility an X-ray body scanner to detect drugs smuggled inside body cavities.
After missing several deadlines, the province now says the scanner will be in place “in the coming weeks.”
Pigeau’s death renewed calls by Progressive Conservative MPP Jeff Yurek for a third-party audit of EMDC.
“This government needs to ensure the safety of all staff, correctional officers and inmates at this facility. They need to act now before another life is needlessly lost,” the MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Community Safety and Corrections Minister Marie-France Lalonde said there are already independent lines of inquiry at EMDC, including coroners’ inquests and reviews by community advisory boards.
In a statement, Lalonde expressed condolences for the family of the inmate.
Pigeau first came to Postmedia News’s attention after the killing of Adam Kargus on Halloween night 2013 by cellmate Anthony George.
Pigeau was on a range adjacent to Kargus. He said he and other inmates witnessed George’s frequent assaults on Kargus before the assault, and tried to help Kargus transfer out of George’s cell.
Pigeau joined a $15-million lawsuit with five other inmates claiming psychological damage and trauma after being forced to witness the brutal killing.
“I’m still having nightmares of hearing him screaming,” he said in an interview.
After Kargus’s death, Pigeau was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and treated at the St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre, Egan said.
He was out of custody in 2014 and 2015, posting photos and videos of his family on social media. With training in the skilled trades, Pigeau attempted to start a construction business.
But he was charged with armed robbery and driving while disqualified in the spring of 2017 and went back to EMDC, where he began to keep track of the frequent and long lockdowns.
“Space so small you can’t stand or walk around or do any exercises, just sit on your bed and wait till the lockdown is over, which could be days. With three grown men confined in a small space with little air circulation and no way to open a window .... Tensions and frustrations are pushed to the limits. Fights break out and many people have got hurt.”
At one point, several dozen inmates refused to return their meal trays or allow their meal hatches to be closed in order to get form letters to send to the Ontario ombudsman, Pigeau said. They filled out 54 form letters complaining of the lockdowns but never heard a thing back, he said.
“Our voices have been muffled, silenced and ignored for too long,” he wrote.
In August, Pigeau said he’d been assaulted by correctional officers. Egan said he noticed some signs of injury during one visit with Pigeau and wrote the jail, without getting a response, to save surveillance tape from the date of the alleged assault.