Jail guard suspended after death of inmate at Montreal detention centre

A corrections officer has been suspended following the death of a 21-year-old inmate from the Bordeaux jail in Montreal, a spokesperson with Quebec’s Public Security Department said Wednesday.

Spokesperson Marie-Josée Montminy said in an email the department takes the situation seriously and has “already applied administrative measures to certain staff members while it sheds light on the events.”

Nicous D’Andre Spring, 21, died in hospital after reportedly suffering injuries on Saturday at the provincial jail.

Montminy said provincial police and the coroner’s office are investigating. The Public Security Department, she added, “is committed to actively collaborating with these two entities.”

“In addition, in parallel with these investigations, the (department) will carry out an administrative investigation … as well as a careful analysis of the intervention” by correctional officers at the jail. It’s up to police, she added, to determine whether charges should be laid.

Provincial police spokesperson Nicolas Scholtus said Wednesday an autopsy will be performed to determine the causes and circumstances of the inmate’s death. Scholtus added that it was too early to say whether charges would be brought in connection with man’s death.

Authorities are not releasing details of the incident during which the man was injured or the charges that led to his arrest and detention.

The Montreal detention centre, known as Bordeaux jail, is located in the city’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough.

Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel’s office also offered its condolences to the man’s family.

— with files from Global’s Phil Carpenter