Barton jail inmate found in medical distress dies

An inmate at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre died Monday afternoon after being “found in medical distress in his cell,” according to an official with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

A 911 call just before 2 p.m. was responded to by paramedics and firefighters for an inmate classified “VSA” or “vital signs absent.” Ministry spokesperson Andrew Morrison told the Spectator that detention centre staff “responded quickly.”

“Emergency medical services transported the inmate to hospital and the inmate was pronounced deceased at hospital,” Morrison wrote in an email.

He declined to comment further on the cause of death, or offer a definition of “medical distress.”

As a matter of course for an inmate death, investigations by the Office of the Chief Coroner and Hamilton Police Service will take place.

“If the coroner’s investigation determines that a death was not a result of natural causes, a mandatory inquest would be called to examine the circumstances.”

Paramedics have been dispatched to the jail on Barton Street East eight times this year for possible inmate opioid overdoses, including several times in one week last month. Seven of those inmates survived.

And two weeks ago the Spectator reported that a 36-year old female inmate died of a suspected drug overdose at the jail.

At that time Morrison also commented that the inmate had been found in medical distress.