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London, Ont. Provincial Jail EMDC Records 2nd Death This Year 21st Since 2009 10 Suspicious.
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Greg Carr
Dec 1, 2022, 9:06:38 AM12/1/22
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CANADA
Investigation underway after EMDC records 2nd inmate death of year, 21st since 2009
By Matthew Trevithick 980 CFPL
Posted November 17, 2022 4:22 pm
Updated November 17, 2022 4:28 pm
Razor wire fence lines the outside of the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, a maximum security prison on Exeter Road, in London on Oct. 18. Andrew Russell / Global News
London’s troubled provincial jail has recorded yet another death involving an inmate, the second so far this year.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed Thursday that a male inmate was found unresponsive in his cell on Wednesday morning, and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
“The ministry cannot provide further details as a number of investigations are underway,” the spokesperson, Andrew Morrison, said in an email, adding that several investigations will take place, including by the Office of the Chief Coroner to determine a cause of death.
“The ministry conducts a mandatory internal investigation to determine whether all ministry policies and procedures were followed with respect to the care and custody of the deceased,” he said.
“The local police may investigate to determine if the death was due to any criminal activity. If it is determined that a death was not a result of natural causes, a mandatory inquest is held to examine the circumstances and manner of the death.”
A London Police spokesperson said officers had responded to the facility, located along Exeter Road in the city’s south end, for a report of an unresponsive male.
“The male was pronounced deceased and a coroner’s investigation was initiated, which the LPS Major Crime Section provided assistance with,” police said.
The victim’s identity was not provided by the ministry or police.
READ MORE: Delayed inquest into 2017 death of EMDC inmate to go forward in November
“It’s very sad to see yet another death at this institution,” said Kevin Egan, a partner at McKenzie Lake Lawyers, who is representing more than 13,000 people in a $325-million class-action lawsuit against the province over conditions at the jail. (Greg: The lawsuit has been going on around 5 years now.)
“My heart goes out to his family and to the inmates and staff whose mental health is no doubt impacted by this latest tragedy.”
The death is at least the 21st involving an inmate at the south London jail since 2009, and is the fifth to be reported since the start of 2021.
In September, a male inmate was found in medical distress in his cell and was later pronounced dead in hospital, according to the ministry. A cause of death was not provided.
Three inmate deaths were reported in 2021, including two within days of each other. The death of a third inmate, Brandon Marchant, 32, in July of that year prompted demonstrations outside the jail involving thousands of people.
The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, cleared the OPP in Marchant’s death that August. The agency had invoked its mandate as the 32-year-old had been arrested by the OPP following a serious crash on Highway 401 near Ingersoll.
READ MORE: Investigations launched into death of inmate at EMDC, the facility’s 20th since 2009
The death this week comes days before the start of a delayed inquest into another death at the jail five years ago.
The inquest into the death of Murray James Davis, 24, on Aug. 18, 2017 will begin on Monday and is scheduled to last five days with 13 witnesses. It will be at least the seventh involving an inmate at the facility.
Davis’s inquest was originally scheduled to be held in 2020 as part of a joint inquest that would also examine the deaths of inmates Floyd Deleary, 39, in August 2015 and Justin Thompson in 2016.
After an inmate’s testimony suggested that his death was due to a killing, Davis’s inquest was halted, according to a London Free Press report at the time. The inquest later determined that Deleary died of acute fentanyl toxicity, while Thompson died of cocaine toxicity.
Eighty recommendations were made by the jury following the inquest, the first being that the province consider replacing the jail.
Responding to the recommendations earlier this year, the province highlighted several initiatives it says it had undertaken at the jail, including security upgrades, new program rooms, new staff training rooms, and a new security trailer and canine kennel.
The ministry has also implemented changes to the jail’s yard, dividing it into four sections and adding a yard covering and skylights. The province says it will allow more than one group of inmates to go outside at a time.
The changes, it says, come as part of a $500-million investment over five years to “transform correctional services across the province through new hires” and improvements.
READ MORE: 2021 — Ontario solicitor general’s EMDC visit left OPSEU head disappointed
EMDC has been plagued by overcrowding, poor inmate supervision and violence for more than a decade.
Numerous drug overdoses have also been reported at the facility, along with hundreds of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.
In 2019, the former chief of the province’s Human Rights Commission described the jail as being overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous, saying it exhibited conditions dehumanizing and antithetical to prisoner rehabilitation.
LONDON POLICE SERVICE
JAIL
INMATE DEATH
ELGIN MIDDLESEX DETENTION CENTRE
CLICK TO SEE MORE TAGS+8
https://globalnews.ca/news/9286148/investigation-underway-emdc-inmate-death/
Sylvia Jones Ont. Solicitor-General Visits Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center To Thank Unionized Guards. 19 Deaths There In 11 Years Only 450 Inmates 10 Deaths Are suspicious. Site Of Protests.
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Gregory Carr
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Aug 6, 2021, 2:03:34 PM
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London
Ontario's solicitor general visits London jail to meet with guards after biker protests
Sylvia Jones's visit comes weeks after death of another inmate
Kate Dubinski · CBC News · Posted: Aug 05, 2021 2:52 PM ET | Last Updated: August 5
In a show of force, hundreds of bikers, including some who belong to outlaw motorcycle clubs, rode to the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre on July 17. Nineteen people have died at the jail in London, Ont., since 2009. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)
Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones met with staff at London's troubled Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre on Thursday, in the wake of the death a month ago of an inmate after spending one night in the jail.
The death prompted a large protest that included members of the Hells Angels.
Jones didn't tell family members of the 19 people who have died at the jail since 2009, or the media, that she would be visiting the Exeter Road facility. There have been protests almost nightly since July 6, when Brandon (Bam Bam) Marchant, 32, died after being taken off life-support.
"The daily protests over the past number of weeks have been challenging for staff at the facility, and I want to thank them for their professionalism and ongoing commitment to community safety," Jones wrote in an emailed statement to CBC News.
Ministry officials have been "engaging with local justice partners to ensure the continued safety of both staff and inmates, while respecting the right of Ontarians to peacefully protest," Jones said, without elaborating on the identities of the local justice partners.
Several motorcyclists spun their back wheels while remaining stationary, creating a loud noise, smoke and markings on the ground outside the provincial jail. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)
CBC News has requested more information about Jones's visit, which was requested by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents jail guards, who say they've felt threatened after Marchant's death.
Marchant has family members with ties to the Hells Angels, an outlaw motorcycle club.
'They picked on the wrong person'
Jones's emailed statement also expressed sympathy "to the families who are grieving the loss of loved ones or are waiting for the details offered through death investigations."
But Judy Struthers, whose son Justin died at the jail in 2017, called the solicitor general's visit "cowardly."
Brandon Marchant, an inmate whose nickname was BamBam, was 32 when he died in hospital after being taken off life-support. His death July 6 has prompted protests almost nightly. (Marchant Family )
"She doesn't have the nerve to talk to me or my husband. She has never, ever reached out to any of us families," Struthers said. "This last death was a terrible thing to have happened, but boy, they picked on the wrong person this time because people are paying attention."
Several inmates have claimed guards assaulted Marchant after a dispute over a towel, after he was brought in from hospital, where he was being treated for injuries sustained in a car crash. He was found unresponsive in his cell the next morning and died several days later in hospital, without ever having regained consciousness.
'Very stressful': Solicitor general responds to EMDC guards after bikers rally at jail
'His life mattered': Family wants justice for inmate allegedly beaten in London, Ont., jail
The guards reportedly remain on the job amid ongoing investigations into Marchant's death.
Marchant was the 19th person who's died at the jail since 2009.
"How does that happen? Nineteen deaths — how can you not think that something is wrong in there?" Struthers said. "As far as calling the guards professional, they're not. They tell us to F off — they give us the finger."
Struthers and her husband Glen go weekly to the jail to protest conditions and visit a memorial cross for their son. Those crosses were recently taken down after a tribunal ruled they negatively affected jail staff's mental health.
PHOTOSBikers and families descend on Ontario jail demanding end to deaths inside
"They say they have stress? How about putting my shoes on, or the shoes of any one of us who have lost a loved on in there?" Struthers said.
"I'm very disappointed in Sylvie Jones. She should be replaced. There's been 19 deaths, she should have been in there long before this to figure out what was wrong and to talk to the inmates without the guards present about what's going on in there."
CBC News has reached out to the union representing corrections officers for a comment about Jones's visit.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/solicitor-general-visits-london-jail-to-meet-with-guards-after-protests-1.6131002 has pics of a inmate who died there and of a recent protest there.
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/aZ92_1-Hzyk/m/LbnnT5_3AAAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/zjI3La_0_Ws/m/AkwyXgPqBwAJ the Hell's Angels arranged an assault on the London, Ont. Outlaws MC Pres. while he was detained for months inside Elgin Middlesex Detention center on charges that were dropped.
In 2018 they had 3 deaths in 6 weeks at the facility. https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/oBhikFEGM8g/m/bFb9ciY_AgAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/llb81o_wEJ8/m/XwM-xn3QBgAJ in 2017 a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the facility was filed it is still before the courts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rih8JI00GHo&t=184s Fifth Estate story 31 minutes long on 10 suspicious deaths at Middlesex Detention Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCuzn4cakJo Clean up after a killing at Elgin Middlesex Detention Center. Over 3 million views. Let's finally get some justice happening. Union guards and the administrators have to follow the law and regulations just as much as car thieves, drug dealers, fraudsters and arsonists in jail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3gbsz_pqcM another video of a murder at Elgin Middlesex Detention Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avQiJpKXd9w Fifth Estate interview with Mom whose son was murdered at Elgin Middlesex after repeated violence by his cellmate and eventual murderer.
https://groups.google.com/g/ont.general/c/jQAirKNBHAY
Investigation underway after EMDC records 2nd inmate death of year, 21st since 2009
By Matthew Trevithick 980 CFPL
Posted November 17, 2022 4:22 pm
Updated November 17, 2022 4:28 pm
Razor wire fence lines the outside of the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, a maximum security prison on Exeter Road, in London on Oct. 18. Andrew Russell / Global News
London’s troubled provincial jail has recorded yet another death involving an inmate, the second so far this year.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed Thursday that a male inmate was found unresponsive in his cell on Wednesday morning, and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
“The ministry cannot provide further details as a number of investigations are underway,” the spokesperson, Andrew Morrison, said in an email, adding that several investigations will take place, including by the Office of the Chief Coroner to determine a cause of death.
“The ministry conducts a mandatory internal investigation to determine whether all ministry policies and procedures were followed with respect to the care and custody of the deceased,” he said.
“The local police may investigate to determine if the death was due to any criminal activity. If it is determined that a death was not a result of natural causes, a mandatory inquest is held to examine the circumstances and manner of the death.”
A London Police spokesperson said officers had responded to the facility, located along Exeter Road in the city’s south end, for a report of an unresponsive male.
“The male was pronounced deceased and a coroner’s investigation was initiated, which the LPS Major Crime Section provided assistance with,” police said.
The victim’s identity was not provided by the ministry or police.
READ MORE: Delayed inquest into 2017 death of EMDC inmate to go forward in November
“It’s very sad to see yet another death at this institution,” said Kevin Egan, a partner at McKenzie Lake Lawyers, who is representing more than 13,000 people in a $325-million class-action lawsuit against the province over conditions at the jail. (Greg: The lawsuit has been going on around 5 years now.)
“My heart goes out to his family and to the inmates and staff whose mental health is no doubt impacted by this latest tragedy.”
The death is at least the 21st involving an inmate at the south London jail since 2009, and is the fifth to be reported since the start of 2021.
In September, a male inmate was found in medical distress in his cell and was later pronounced dead in hospital, according to the ministry. A cause of death was not provided.
Three inmate deaths were reported in 2021, including two within days of each other. The death of a third inmate, Brandon Marchant, 32, in July of that year prompted demonstrations outside the jail involving thousands of people.
The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, cleared the OPP in Marchant’s death that August. The agency had invoked its mandate as the 32-year-old had been arrested by the OPP following a serious crash on Highway 401 near Ingersoll.
READ MORE: Investigations launched into death of inmate at EMDC, the facility’s 20th since 2009
The death this week comes days before the start of a delayed inquest into another death at the jail five years ago.
The inquest into the death of Murray James Davis, 24, on Aug. 18, 2017 will begin on Monday and is scheduled to last five days with 13 witnesses. It will be at least the seventh involving an inmate at the facility.
Davis’s inquest was originally scheduled to be held in 2020 as part of a joint inquest that would also examine the deaths of inmates Floyd Deleary, 39, in August 2015 and Justin Thompson in 2016.
After an inmate’s testimony suggested that his death was due to a killing, Davis’s inquest was halted, according to a London Free Press report at the time. The inquest later determined that Deleary died of acute fentanyl toxicity, while Thompson died of cocaine toxicity.
Eighty recommendations were made by the jury following the inquest, the first being that the province consider replacing the jail.
Responding to the recommendations earlier this year, the province highlighted several initiatives it says it had undertaken at the jail, including security upgrades, new program rooms, new staff training rooms, and a new security trailer and canine kennel.
The ministry has also implemented changes to the jail’s yard, dividing it into four sections and adding a yard covering and skylights. The province says it will allow more than one group of inmates to go outside at a time.
The changes, it says, come as part of a $500-million investment over five years to “transform correctional services across the province through new hires” and improvements.
READ MORE: 2021 — Ontario solicitor general’s EMDC visit left OPSEU head disappointed
EMDC has been plagued by overcrowding, poor inmate supervision and violence for more than a decade.
Numerous drug overdoses have also been reported at the facility, along with hundreds of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.
In 2019, the former chief of the province’s Human Rights Commission described the jail as being overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous, saying it exhibited conditions dehumanizing and antithetical to prisoner rehabilitation.
LONDON POLICE SERVICE
JAIL
INMATE DEATH
ELGIN MIDDLESEX DETENTION CENTRE
CLICK TO SEE MORE TAGS+8
https://globalnews.ca/news/9286148/investigation-underway-emdc-inmate-death/
Sylvia Jones Ont. Solicitor-General Visits Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center To Thank Unionized Guards. 19 Deaths There In 11 Years Only 450 Inmates 10 Deaths Are suspicious. Site Of Protests.
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Gregory Carr's profile photo
Gregory Carr
unread,
Aug 6, 2021, 2:03:34 PM
to
London
Ontario's solicitor general visits London jail to meet with guards after biker protests
Sylvia Jones's visit comes weeks after death of another inmate
Kate Dubinski · CBC News · Posted: Aug 05, 2021 2:52 PM ET | Last Updated: August 5
In a show of force, hundreds of bikers, including some who belong to outlaw motorcycle clubs, rode to the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre on July 17. Nineteen people have died at the jail in London, Ont., since 2009. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)
Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones met with staff at London's troubled Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre on Thursday, in the wake of the death a month ago of an inmate after spending one night in the jail.
The death prompted a large protest that included members of the Hells Angels.
Jones didn't tell family members of the 19 people who have died at the jail since 2009, or the media, that she would be visiting the Exeter Road facility. There have been protests almost nightly since July 6, when Brandon (Bam Bam) Marchant, 32, died after being taken off life-support.
"The daily protests over the past number of weeks have been challenging for staff at the facility, and I want to thank them for their professionalism and ongoing commitment to community safety," Jones wrote in an emailed statement to CBC News.
Ministry officials have been "engaging with local justice partners to ensure the continued safety of both staff and inmates, while respecting the right of Ontarians to peacefully protest," Jones said, without elaborating on the identities of the local justice partners.
Several motorcyclists spun their back wheels while remaining stationary, creating a loud noise, smoke and markings on the ground outside the provincial jail. (Kate Dubinski/CBC News)
CBC News has requested more information about Jones's visit, which was requested by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents jail guards, who say they've felt threatened after Marchant's death.
Marchant has family members with ties to the Hells Angels, an outlaw motorcycle club.
'They picked on the wrong person'
Jones's emailed statement also expressed sympathy "to the families who are grieving the loss of loved ones or are waiting for the details offered through death investigations."
But Judy Struthers, whose son Justin died at the jail in 2017, called the solicitor general's visit "cowardly."
Brandon Marchant, an inmate whose nickname was BamBam, was 32 when he died in hospital after being taken off life-support. His death July 6 has prompted protests almost nightly. (Marchant Family )
"She doesn't have the nerve to talk to me or my husband. She has never, ever reached out to any of us families," Struthers said. "This last death was a terrible thing to have happened, but boy, they picked on the wrong person this time because people are paying attention."
Several inmates have claimed guards assaulted Marchant after a dispute over a towel, after he was brought in from hospital, where he was being treated for injuries sustained in a car crash. He was found unresponsive in his cell the next morning and died several days later in hospital, without ever having regained consciousness.
'Very stressful': Solicitor general responds to EMDC guards after bikers rally at jail
'His life mattered': Family wants justice for inmate allegedly beaten in London, Ont., jail
The guards reportedly remain on the job amid ongoing investigations into Marchant's death.
Marchant was the 19th person who's died at the jail since 2009.
"How does that happen? Nineteen deaths — how can you not think that something is wrong in there?" Struthers said. "As far as calling the guards professional, they're not. They tell us to F off — they give us the finger."
Struthers and her husband Glen go weekly to the jail to protest conditions and visit a memorial cross for their son. Those crosses were recently taken down after a tribunal ruled they negatively affected jail staff's mental health.
PHOTOSBikers and families descend on Ontario jail demanding end to deaths inside
"They say they have stress? How about putting my shoes on, or the shoes of any one of us who have lost a loved on in there?" Struthers said.
"I'm very disappointed in Sylvie Jones. She should be replaced. There's been 19 deaths, she should have been in there long before this to figure out what was wrong and to talk to the inmates without the guards present about what's going on in there."
CBC News has reached out to the union representing corrections officers for a comment about Jones's visit.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/solicitor-general-visits-london-jail-to-meet-with-guards-after-protests-1.6131002 has pics of a inmate who died there and of a recent protest there.
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/aZ92_1-Hzyk/m/LbnnT5_3AAAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/zjI3La_0_Ws/m/AkwyXgPqBwAJ the Hell's Angels arranged an assault on the London, Ont. Outlaws MC Pres. while he was detained for months inside Elgin Middlesex Detention center on charges that were dropped.
In 2018 they had 3 deaths in 6 weeks at the facility. https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/oBhikFEGM8g/m/bFb9ciY_AgAJ
https://groups.google.com/g/can.politics/c/llb81o_wEJ8/m/XwM-xn3QBgAJ in 2017 a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the facility was filed it is still before the courts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rih8JI00GHo&t=184s Fifth Estate story 31 minutes long on 10 suspicious deaths at Middlesex Detention Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCuzn4cakJo Clean up after a killing at Elgin Middlesex Detention Center. Over 3 million views. Let's finally get some justice happening. Union guards and the administrators have to follow the law and regulations just as much as car thieves, drug dealers, fraudsters and arsonists in jail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3gbsz_pqcM another video of a murder at Elgin Middlesex Detention Center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avQiJpKXd9w Fifth Estate interview with Mom whose son was murdered at Elgin Middlesex after repeated violence by his cellmate and eventual murderer.
https://groups.google.com/g/ont.general/c/jQAirKNBHAY
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