Inquests called into the deaths of 7 inmates at federal and provincial institutions in Manitoba

Manitoba’s chief medical examiner (CME), Dr. John Younes, has called for inquests into the deaths of seven men in a federal prison and jail in Manitoba between 2020 and 2021. The province informed media about the inquests on Monday. They were called by the CME on Jul. 8. Between March and December 2020, Adrian Young, 39, Patrick Eaglestick, 25, Farron Rowan, 32, Curt Harper, 36, Melvis Owen, 38 died by suicide at the Stony Mountain Institution. The federal, multi-level security prison is located approximately 25 km outside of Winnipeg. An inquest is also being called for Jesse Thomas, 36, who died from a drug overdose while incarcerated at Stony Mountain on Nov. 19, 2021. Death of William Ahmo Following a years-long wait by family and supporters, an inquest has been called into the death of William Ahmo, 45. Ahmo, an Anishinaabe man from Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, died on Feb. 14, 2021, after an altercation with several guards at the provincial Headingley Correctional Centre. An autopsy revealed Ahmo died from a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. His death was ruled a homicide by Manitoba’s CME. On Sept. 6, 2024, Robert Jeffrey Morden–the Headingley guard charged in connection with Ahmo’s death–was acquitted in provincial court. Inquests an opportunity for truth to surface: lawyer William Ahmo died following an altercation with prison guards. Photo: Facebook. Ahmo’s family launched a civil suit against the province in February 2023. Their lawyer, Corey Shefman, said they’ve been waiting on an inquest to move forward. “The longer we go from William’s death to an inquest, the less people are going to remember and the less relevant recommendations might be,” Shefman said in a Monday interview with APTN News. “The number one priority for William’s family is to prevent what happened to him from happening to anyone else.” While he believes swift action is necessary, he’s concerned the seven inquests will be combined into one case. “It’s important that we not bring together dissimilar cases where the result of that is going to be that the outcomes of those inquests will be watered down,” he said. Shefman said the inquest will allow more of the truth to come out, and for preventative recommendations to be made. “No one is going to be found guilty for anything at the inquest. That’s not what the inquest is about,” Shefman said. “So, it’s a really important opportunity to talk about policy changes, to talk about what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.” Younes was not available for an interview at the time of publication, but said in an email that there was a large number of inquests called because of changes at the CME after the pandemic. “The procedure of actually calling the inquests, including correspondence to the Chief Judge, the families of the deceased, and the media only resumed in the recent past. The calling of inquests will be more regular going forward after this initial “catch-up” phase,” he said. “Another factor that affected the timing of this group of inquests being called is that a number of them had initially been planned to run under a single inquest given the similarities of the circumstances involved. “In light of feedback from legal counsel, families of the deceased, and judges who managed previous grouped inquests, the decision was made to hold individual inquests for each of the deceased.” No dates have been set for the inquests. Continue Reading