Guard’s ‘negligence’ cited in leadup to inmate’s death
Saskatchewan’s information and privacy commissioner says a breach of privacy involving an inmate’s records that were left in a food cart on the day he was fatally assaulted by two other inmates at the Saskatoon provincial jail was rooted in a correctional officer’s “negligence.”
Information and Privacy Commissioner Ron Kruzeniski wrote in his May 7, 2020, report that the guard “didn’t make any attempt” to contain the breach of Cornell Henry’s file after it was returned by an inmate.
Henry died in hospital days after an assault by two inmates who entered his cell on Oct. 23, 2017.
The incident, which lasted less than a minute, resulted in head injuries. Nathan Ermine and Raven Don Constant have both been sentenced in Henry’s death.
“I am very troubled by the fact that a CO lost possession of an inmate’s personal record containing extremely sensitive and personal information, was fully aware that the file was in the possession of another inmate for a period of time, and yet, did not open the file to see what was missing,” Kruzeniski wrote. “This one step alone might have prevented (his) death.”
Kruzeniski called on the Ministry of Corrections and Policing to end multitasking of duties, such as having the person transporting files to a unit also transporting items to be distributed to inmates.
The ministry does require anything coming into units to be searched, but this doesn’t go far enough, Kruzeniski wrote.
The correctional officer, who had picked up Henry’s file and the breakfast cart before taking both to the unit, later described putting the file in the cart to prevent it from being blown away by the wind when transporting the cart between buildings.
Kruzeniski found that the guard had received appropriate training and knew all items entering a unit must be searched, and that files should not be left in a food cart. He concluded the root cause of the breach was negligence on the guard’s part.
One of the two inmates on kitchen work placement duty found the file and reviewed it, which was shown on surveillance video. The other inmate returned the file to the guard, who put it in a cabinet.
The guard later admitted not checking the file and forgetting about the incident until discussing the assault on Henry with other colleagues later that day.
The first two pages of Henry’s criminal record disappeared and were never recovered.
After the file was returned, the two inmates served breakfast and made extended stops at three cells, including Ermine and Constant’s. The assault happened after the unit’s inmates were let out of their cells after breakfast.
In an emailed response to The Starphoenix, a spokesperson said the corrections ministry conducted an internal investigation, proactively reported the breach to Kruzeniski, will consider his recommendations and will provide him with a response once it has reviewed them.
The officer suffered job loss, but later regained employment with the ministry at an “alternate location” following a grievance process, Kruzeniski noted.