Cause Of Inmate’s Death To Remain A Mystery
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 17:39
It appears the question of how an Aboriginal man died while incarcerated at the Prince Albert Correctional Centre may never be solved.
Jurors deliberated for over two hours this morning — but in the end, they were unable to determine how 43-year-old James Burns died.
The inquest heard how Burn’s body was found sometime before 7:00 a.m. on October 21st, 2005 on a bed in his cell.
He was partially undressed. A bottle of cleaning fluid was found on the floor, in addition to a half-empty container of Coca-Cola.
His cell was located in a low-security area of the correctional centre at the time, and he had only been in it for a day.
In the end, the inquest listed the cause of his death as undetermined, but did issue some recommendations on how to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
The jurors called for future inquests to be called on a timelier basis, and for staff to be required to review policies on a consistent basis and to have more knowledge of medication.
They also would like to see 24-hour video-monitoring established.