Another inmate dies in London jail
Mother says son was found in cell with a blanket around his neck
A 29-year-old father LONDON, ONT. of twin girls has died at London’s troubled provincial jail, an unprecedented fifth death this year at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) and the third from suspected suicide.
The death of Justin Struthers of Goderich on Boxing Day has raised questions, again, about how inmates are screened for mental illness, protected from self harm and monitored at EMDC.
An inmate was found dead in his cell about 12:10 p.m. Boxing Day, police reported Wednesday. Family members identified the man as Struthers.
Struthers’ mother said that police told the family her son was found in his cell with a blanket around his neck, and his death is considered a possible suicide.
Her son had been in a fight earlier that day at the jail, was kicked in the head, then returned to his cell, she said.
He had been in jail since Christmas Day, she added.
Court records show Struthers was charged with four counts of assault, including one on a police officer.
His death appears to have parallels to the death of Ronald James Jenkins, 49, only 21/2 weeks earlier, on Dec. 9.
Each man died of suspected suicide after only a day in the jail, sources say.
Research has shown that new arrivals to jail are susceptible to suicidal thoughts and the most vulnerable time for someone facing charges, and not yet sentenced, is within the first 90 days of being incarcerated.
But inquests into Ontario jail deaths have shown uneven use of limited suicide-screening tools that rely largely on people acknowledging suicidal thoughts.
It’s not clear where either Jenkins or Struthers were held at EMDC.
The jail doesn’t have a medical infirmary or a specialized unit for unstable, mentally ill inmates.
The segregation unit is used to house suicidal inmates, or those at risk of harming themselves. Though segregation is considered a poor choice in general for mentally ill inmates, at EMDC cells in the segregation unit are checked more regularly than in general population units, and inmates are provided clothing and blankets that are supposed to be more difficult to tear into ligatures that could be used for hanging.
“It’s obvious to everybody except the people in control that there’s a problem there that needs to be fixed,” London lawyer Kevin Egan said. “I don’t know how many deaths it will take until things change.”
Egan represents hundreds of inmates in legal action, including a $325-million class-action suit, against the province over conditions at EMDC.
He began that work after representing the family of Randy Drysdale, an EMDC inmate who died in 2009. Since that year, 12 inmates have died at the jail.
Court rulings, lawsuits and inquests into some of those deaths have painted a picture of a violent, overcrowded and understaffed jail. Many correctional officers have also led the call for changes at EMDC.
Opposition critics credit Postmedia News coverage, including a 2016 investigative series into one death, for prompting the province to improve some conditions at EMDC.
Over the past two years, the province has hired more correctional and health-care staff at the jail, changed rules on segregation and made plans to install by the end of this year an X-ray scanner to better prevent smuggling of drugs and weapons.
But the deaths this year have renewed calls by Egan and other advocates for replacement of the 1970s-era jail, built for 150 inmates and regularly housing more than twice that amount, and designed so correctional officers can’t see the units and the inmates from their stations.
A video-surveillance system put in place partly in response to the Drysdale inquest is largely unmonitored because of a lack of staff.
“It is heartbreaking for these families, especially at this time of year,” Egan said.
When an inmate is placed into custody, the warrant that goes with him requires the institution to protect him, he said.
“The authority under which they hold them has a command to keep them safe. That is their job, to keep them safe.”