Latest Barton jail deaths may be added drug-related inquest

The latest death at the Barton Street Jail is possibly drug-related, and if so, would be the sixth name added to the inquest list for drug-related deaths at the detention centre in less that four years, says the region's coroner.

David Gillan, 46, died Tuesday morning while in custody, confirmed regional coroner Dr. Jack Stanborough. An autopsy was not conclusive in his cause of death, and toxicology and tissue microscopy tests are underway.

Gillan's death was the second in 2015 for the Barton jail, which included the February death of Stephen Neeson, 44, whose cause of death also has yet to be determined.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if we added these two to the inquest list as well. But that of course is conjecture," Stanborough said.

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Last week, Gillan was a wanted man, and Hamilton Police said the man, wanted on robbery and break and enter charges, had removed his ankle monitor and fled.

Police then-said his past charges dated back to the 1990, and that he was well known to police. He was arrested by Toronto Police in Scarborough Saturday, and was found dead in his cell Tuesday morning.

An autopsy, which would be able to determine a death by blunt force trauma or a heart attack, for example, did not reveal his cause of death.

Hamilton Police and Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services would not comment on the death.

The coroner already has four drug-related deaths being combined into oneinquest. Any death of unnatural causes forces a mandatory inquest by the coroner.

Gillan andNeesoncouldjoin the inquest list of deaths at the jail which include Marty Tykoliz, 38, Trevor Burke, 38, Louis Unelli, 41, and William Acheson, 42.

"If there's 6 deaths in one institution in less than four years, from the same cause, that would be concerning," Scarborough said.