London, Ont., police say an investigation is underway after an inmate at the city’s provincial jail was found unresponsive in a cell and died in hospital earlier this week.
Police say they were called to the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) around 11:45 p.m. Monday about an unresponsive inmate. The man was taken to hospital but was later pronounced dead, police said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed that the inmate died in hospital on Tuesday after correctional staff found him in medical distress and called paramedics.
“Correctional staff are trained to provide emergency medical care including CPR and other life-saving measures to inmates found in medical distress,” spokesperson Andrew Morrison said in an emailed statement.
“The ministry takes deaths in custody very seriously and investigations are carried out by ministry officials, the Office of the Chief Coroner and the police.”
Police said the family of the inmate had been notified, and added that the death investigation, as with all death investigations, had been reassigned to its major crime section.
The identity of the deceased man has not been made public and few other details have been released by the province, citing ongoing investigations by several agencies.
“The Office of the Chief Coroner conducts a death investigation to determine cause and manner 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,” Morrison said, adding local police may probe whether the death was due to criminal activity.
“If it is determined that a death was not due to natural causes, a mandatory inquest is held to examine the circumstances and manner of the death.”
Tuesday’s death is at least the 20th to be reported at the south London facility involving an inmate since 2009, and is the first to be reported this year.
At least three inmates died at the facility in 2021 — two within a matter of days, when 26-year-old Tyler Lancha and an unidentified 61-year-old man died that March.
The third death involved 32-year-old inmate Brandon Marchant, who had been arrested by the OPP following a serious crash on Hwy. 401 near Ingersoll, Ont., on July 1, 2021. After being released from hospital into the custody of EMDC staff on July 2, he was found without vital signs in his cell the following morning and was taken to hospital, where he died on July 6.
Thousands of people gathered outside at EMDC later that month, calling for justice into Marchant’s death. The province’s Special Investigations Unit cleared the OPP in Marchant’s death in August 2021.
No coroners inquests have been announced in connection with the three 2021 inmate deaths.
Inquests have been held into at least six of the 20 deaths reported at EMDC in the last 13 years.
The most recent inquest to be held was in 2020 in response to the deaths of Floyd Deleary, 39, and Justin Thompson, 27, who died in August 2015 and October 2016, respectively — Deleary of acute fentanyl toxicity, and Thompson of acute fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.
The inquest saw a total of 80 jury recommendations made to the province, including that it consider replacing EMDC entirely with a new modern facility, and better correctional staff training.
The south London facility has been plagued for years by overcrowding, poor inmate supervision, and violence, along with numerous drug overdoses and COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic.
— with files from Jacquelyn LeBel
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