Former N.L. prisoner wants guards held accountable in death of Indigenous inmate

ST. JOHN’S, N.L.

When the ten correctional officers charged in the death of an Inuk man at a jail in St. John’s face a judge for the first time in February, Gordon Wheaton says he’d like to be there.

Wheaton is a former inmate of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary, the jail in which Jonathan Henoche was killed on Nov. 6, 2019. He said he spent two days with Henoche in a cell in the jail’s special handling unit in 2018.

Abuse is commonplace at the provincial penitentiary, the result of a justice system that does more harm than good, he said in an interview Tuesday.

“I want them held accountable,” he said of the ten guards charged with crimes ranging from manslaughter to criminal negligence causing death. “We need to change the system. Thing is, nobody’s helping us.”

Henoche was 33 when he died after a reported altercation with corrections officers. He was awaiting trial for charges including firstdegree murder in relation to the 2016 death of an 88-year-old woman in Labrador.

Last week, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary announced ten officers had been charged in connection with Henoche’s death but they did not release the officers’ names because the charges had not been sworn in court. Police said the officers were released without a bail hearing and are due before a judge on Feb. 11.

Wheaton said it’s outrageous the officers were able to spend Christmas with their families. “I’m glad there was arrests, but I’m also disgusted by how it was handled,” he said, adding that he wasn’t surprised.

Nor was he surprised, he added, by Henoche’s death inside the jail. “The place is just a fuse box ready to explode,” he said. “When guards are abusive and the place you’re in is horrible, then bad things happen.”

Wheaton said he was jailed in 2018 for uttering threats. He said Henoche was brought to his cell because all the others in the unit were full. “He wanted to stay down in the (special handling unit) because he was having problems with people upstairs,” Wheaton said, adding that he knew Henoche had been charged with murder.

After two days together, Wheaton said Henoche was sent back into the regular population.

Wheaton, who served a 30-day sentence, said some guards at the provincial jail are good to inmates, but many, he said, are not. Some officers belittle and antagonize inmates, sometimes denying them basics like towels,

Wheaton said, adding that guards can be particularly cruel to inmates suffering from mental health issues.

“There’s no medical help down there at all,” he said. “It’s a way to prevent you from speaking out about your mental health.”