Inmate who died had mental illness

Killer’s records show depression, panic attacks

An inmate who died last week while serving a life sentence for murder at a federal penitentiary north of Montreal suffered from serious mental health problems, according to his parole records.

On Friday, Correctional Service Canada issued a release stating that Ronald Jetté, 56, had died two days earlier while behind bars at the Archambault Institution in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines.

The statement did not reveal how Jetté died, but noted “the police and the coroner have been notified, and Correctional Service Canada will review the circumstances of the incident.”

In October 1988, Jetté, a resident of Pointe-St-Charles, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Claude Daoust, a 39-year-old former member of the Outlaws, a biker gang that used to be based in Quebec.

According to a recent decision made by the Parole Board of Canada, the official version of what happened in Daoust’s death is that Jetté killed Daoust because he owed Daoust money for cocaine.

Daoust’s frozen body was discovered, by his brother, on Feb. 9, 1988, hidden underneath a blanket inside his mother’s station wagon, which was left in front of Daoust’s home. Daoust was last seen alive two days before his body was discovered.

Despite the cold-blooded nature of the homicide, Jetté was able to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.

He received an automatic life sentence and a judge determined he could be eligible for parole after he served 12 years behind bars.

According to a parole board decision made in February, Jetté wasn’t granted day parole until 2013 because he had proved to be a problem whenever he was allowed out on brief leave privileges.

For example, in 2008 he received an 18-month sentence for harassing his former partner. His day parole was revoked in July 2014 after a drug test indicated he had consumed amphetamines.

The same year that he was granted day parole, a psychologist diagnosed Jetté as having a bipolar disorder that caused him to experience hypomania followed by depression, anxiety and panic attacks.

“In the most recent psychological evaluation, dated June 13, 2016, the psychologist underlined that while you are stable, you still show some of the symptoms of a serious mental illness,” the parole board noted in a summary of its decision made just two months ago.

The psychologist recommended that while Jetté represented a “moderate to elevated” risk of reoffending in the long term, he could benefit from a second attempt at day parole. “(The psychologist) estimates that, within the framework of day parole, the risk appears weak as long as you stay completely sober, take prescribed medication and hold a job exempt of high pressure.”

Jetté was granted day parole in September, but had to be treated at a hospital in January because he stopped taking his medication after having experienced side effects.

In February, the parole board decided Jetté should continue his day parole, at a halfway house, as long as he followed a series of conditions, including that he follow any psychiatric treatment arranged by his parole officer and that he take medication prescribed to him. The fact he died while at Archambault Institution suggests his day parole was suspended after the decision was made.

Correctional Service Canada does not comment on the deaths of inmates while they are under investigation.