Edmonton inmate stomped to death owed $287 LRT fine

Barry Stewart owed $287.

Rather than pay the fine, he chose to spend three days in the Edmonton Remand Centre.

He never left.

Two days into his sentence, in the small hours of the morning, he was stomped to death by a fellow inmate, a mentally ill man he should not have shared a cell with.

There were two inmates in tank 10 onmorning of May 12, 2011,but there was only one mattress, saidRobertAndraidt, deputy director with the Solicitor General's department.

"We had so many individuals in that centre, it was difficult at times to find a mattress," Andraidttold a fatality inquiry on Monday.

Stewart had been there as a prisoner since May 10, when he was arrested for failure to pay an outstanding fine.

He had beencited earlier for not being able to produce an LRT ticket. When hewas picked up, he was given the choice to pay the $287fine or spend threedays in custody.

He chose custody, andwas put into a cell with JustinSomers, an inmate with mental health problems.

Both were being housed temporarily in holding tank 10, in the admissions and discharge area, where they were awaiting placement in other units. At the time of the killing, sources toldCBC News that psychologists assessedSomersand recommended he be kept apart from other inmates.

Both men were scheduledto be transferredto 5-C, the mental health unit. But 5-C was full.

At 4:42 a.m., in a scene captured by a video camera,Somersstomped Stewart to death by jumping on his head 26 times. The attack lasted eight minutes.

That videotape was entered as evidence Monday at the inquiry.

Medical examiner Dr. GraemeDowlingsaid the victim, who was 5-foot-11 and weighed 137 pounds,died from "catastrophic head injuries."

During the attack, Stewart's right ear "was almost torn away from the scalp," he said.

Both sides of his lower jaw were broken. Even the base of the skull was fractured.

"He died of a crush injury of the head,"Dowlingsaid. "Almost like the head is in a vise, being crushed."

Somersinitially jumped from a bench onto the victim's head.Dowlingsaid Stewart's skull was likely fractured with that first blow.

Asked if Stewart could have survived had guards intervened, he said: "My sense was with the initial assault, probably the lethal injury had taken place."

Somers, who was 27 at the time of the attack, wascharged with second-degree murder, but wasfound not criminally responsible in 2013.

Edmonton's old downtown remand centre, where Stewart died, often housed up to 800 inmates, Andraidt said. The new centre, opened recentlyin the north-end, can now hold1,300.

Andraidt said unit 5-C in theold remand centre hadonly 12 cells. The mental health unit at the new facility has36 cells,with capacity for 72 inmates.

At the old centre, psychologists only worked day shifts. They now work in two shifts, mornings and afternoons.

"Unfortunately at this time, we still do house some mental health inmates in admissions and discharge, because there aren't enough mental health spaces," Andraidt said. "Even with the new remand centre."

Inquiry lawyer MonaDuckett askedwhat more is being done now to make sure these inmates are being seen by psychologists once every shift.

"I know for a fact they are doing their rounds, they are seeing these individuals," Andraidt said. "There is documentation being done."

The inquiry is scheduled to last until Friday.