Inmates sue after seeing, hearing fellow prisoner killed
Allege PTSD after witnessing brutal beating
• Six London jail inmates have filed a lawsuit against the province, claiming they were forced to helplessly witness a murder that left them with psychological damage and trauma.
Trapped in their cells, they heard and watched a brutal assault that left a man dead while their calls for help were ignored or laughed at, the inmates claim.
The next day, many endured the boasting of the murderer and s aw t he bloody evidence.
But none were offered or received adequate counselling immediately after the killing, and they continue to suffer psychological damage and post- traumatic stress, the inmates say.
The province, ElginMiddlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) and EMDC employees are named in the lawsuits, in which the inmates seek a total of $ 15 million in damages and admission from the province it infringed on the inmates’ Charter rights to security and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit centres on the Oct. 31, 2013, murder of Adam Kargus, 29, of Sarnia by cellmate Anthony George, 32, also of Sarnia, at EMDC.
George pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.
Surveillance video captured the hour- long, brutal assault, visible much of the time through a cell window. No officers came to check on the unit, despite policy stating checks are to take place every half-hour.
In their statements of claim, the inmates say they were shouting and banging on their doors for help, but were ignored.
“I don’t think that even those who have horrible experiences in their lives can match what happened that night,” their lawyer Kevin Egan said. “It was so gruesome and long- lasting and they were so helpless to do anything that no matter how hardened or how many other horrible experiences they might have gone through, this was by far the worst.”
“I see a dead body watching TV, anything like that, and it brings it right back. You can’t forget something like that. It’s not just the fact that it happened, it’s the way it happened,” one inmate told the London Free Press.
“I’ve been involved in organized crime. I’ve done all kinds of things for money. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this,” said another.
Although the names of the inmates are contained in the statements of claim, The Free Press is not publishing them for the inmates’ protection. Inmates have told the newspaper that media coverage has led to retribution from fellow inmates and correctional officers in the past.
Hundreds of inmates, former inmates and their families have taken legal action against the province over conditions and violence at EMDC over the past seven years. Legal action based on witnessing a horrific incident is common, Egan said.
The statements of claim were filed in December, 2015, but The Free Press held off publishing a story about them until George’s case wound its way through court.
The six inmates who witnessed Kargus’s death claim to be suffering nervous shock, with difficulty sleeping, depression, anxiety and panic attacks — “serious and permanent psychiatric damage and psychological injuries” — that will require continued treatment, the lawsuit claims.
Those statements of claim, which contain allegations not yet proven in court, contain harrowing accounts of the death from the inmates.