Province confirms another death in custody

The P.E.I. government is confirming the third death of an individual in provincial custody over the past 12 months.

In an email, the Department of Justice and Public Safety confirmed an individual died in custody on Feb. 7, 2024.

The email did not confirm whether the death occurred in a medical facility or within a correctional facility.

“As per the department's policy, law enforcement partners, Island EMS, RCMP and the Coroner's Office were notified. The matter is being investigated by the Coroner's Office and RCMP,” read an email sent by Hillary Proctor, a senior communications officer with the department.

“We have no further comment at this time as the investigation is ongoing.”

No other details about the identity of the individual who died have been released.

The province's Coroners

Act requires a public inquest be held when an individual dies while detained or held in custody involuntarily in a jail, correctional facility or medical facility unless a coroner is satisfied the death was due entirely to natural causes and could not have been prevented.

Nearly one year ago, the province confirmed a death occurred during the weekend of Feb. 18, 2023, of an individual who was held involuntarily at the Prince County Hospital. An inquest is expected to be held with respect to this death.

To date, the identity of this individual has not been revealed publicly.

Another death occurred sometime around Aug. 3, 2023. Few details were released by the province of the circumstances surrounding this death.

The date of the summer 2023 death has not been released, the identity of the individual or where this death occurred. There has been no announcement about a public inquest in this death.

A public inquest was held into the death of Kenneth Hoddinott, a 47-year-old man who died at the provincial correctional facility on Dec. 16, 2021.

A jury made several recommendations as part of this inquest including calling for the making available a defibrillator in all wings of the Provincial Correctional Centre, making sure medical intake forms are completed more thoroughly with every inmate and ensuring medical staff are always onsite.