Inquest views video from the night Kinew James died

Video presented at the inquest into the death of Kinew James showed what the unit looked like the night the 35-year-old died at the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC) in Saskatoon.

The surveillance camera footage doesn’t show the cell where James was found, but does depict the hallway adjacent to the cell.

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James was declared dead on Jan. 20, 2013 of an apparent heart attack.

A correctional officer can be seen passing through the corridor around 12:05 a.m., according to the timestamp on the surveillance footage.

Around 20 minutes later, a nurse is seen attending a cell on the unit.

The security camera’s time codes don’t align with testimony from a nurse and a correctional officer presented during the inquest – possibly showing a later response to a code blue call than the inquest had previously heard.

The difference was approximately ten minutes.

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However, witnesses have spoken of time inconsistencies between nurse watches, facility clocks and the cameras. Measures have since been taken to ensure times are synchronized at the RPC.

The facility was in the midst of installing surveillance cameras at the time and not all of them were operational the night James died, the inquest has heard.

Saskatoon police didn’t receive any video in its investigation of the death.

Shawn Bird, the RPC’s executive director at the time of James’s death, was the last of 19 witnesses to take the stand.

Bird told the inquest Tuesday that he reviewed one hallway video following the incident — the first mention at the inquest of any video existing that night. A second video from the opposite end of the hallway was shown during Wednesday’s proceedings.

The coroner began a summary of the evidence Wednesday and is expected to give further directions to the jury on Thursday.