The list of individuals tied to a suspicious 2023 death at the Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold, Ont., has grown to seven.
Five more second-degree murder charges were handed out to as many men amid arrests Friday in connection with a late spring incident at the jail last year.
Niagara Regional Police say a 52-year-old man was found in his cell without vital signs around 6:30 a.m. on June 10 and subsequently declared dead at a hospital not long after.
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Three men from Welland and two others, one from St. Catharines and one from Niagara Falls, have now been charged a day after two earlier arrests.
Ages of the seven involved, identified in a release, range from 19 to 44 years old, with all residents of Niagara Region.
Detectives have released few details on the circumstances around the death, attributing that to the fact the probe into the occurrence is still ongoing.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General says that office and the province’s coroner are also involved in the investigation.