Inquests make recommendations to prevent jail deaths

Coroner’s inquests into killings at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre have resulted in recommendations to prevent jailhouse homicides.

Robert Hatton, 46, was killed on June 8, 2003 by his cellmate, a schizophrenic who was awaiting trial on charges of trying to kill his mother.

Hatton, a mentally challenged pedophile in jail for breaching a long-term supervision order, was strangled.

The cellmate, who wasn’t assessed as psychotic in the months leading up to Hatton’s death and who asked to change cells for unknown reasons before the killing, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was found not criminally responsible for the attack on his mother.

An inquest jury recommended that the Ontario corrections ministry review its policies to make sure front-line corrections officers communicate observations to psychiatrists responsible for assessing inmates’ mental health.

The jury also recommended recurrent training and a quality control process for corrections officers.

On April 27, 1989, Michael Sienkiewicz, 27, was viciously beaten by six other inmates over the drug trade inside the jail. Sienkiewicz was in jail on a break-and-enter charge and traffic offences. A pathologist told an inquest that he had never seen such severe head injuries. The assailants were convicted of offences ranging from assault to murder.

The inquest jury in the Sienkiewicz death recommended that the ministry maintain sufficient staffing levels in the jail at a time when the then-NDP provincial government was considering public sector payroll cuts. The jury heard that staff shortages were one of the reasons guards couldn’t prevent Sienkiewicz’s death in maximum security.

The coroner must hold an inquest when someone dies in custody. If the death is attributed to natural causes, the coroner has discretion on the decision to hold an inquest.