London lawyer suggests inmate's death could be more 'than a simple overdose'

A London lawyer leading a class-action lawsuit against the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre on behalf of a number of guards and inmates is suggesting the suspected overdose death of inmate James Pigeau could be something more sinister.

Pigeau, 32, who was an outspoken critic of the jail, was found dead in his cell at EMDCon Jan. 7, 2018, where he wasbeing kept on remand as he awaited trial on charges of robbery and theft.

There may be something more to it than a simple drug overdose.- Kevin Egan

Kevin Eganis the lawyer representing approximately 13,000 current and former inmates of EMDC in a certified class-action lawsuit against the province alleging they were victims of the jail's atmosphere of "violence, brutality and intimidation," according to the statement of claim.

Egansaid he was representingPigeau,who was one of the inmates nearby that could hear the screams of inmate Adam Kargusin October of 2013 when Kargus wasbeaten to death by his cellmate Anthony George.

• Video shows Ontario inmate killing cellmate and hiding body without guards noticing

Healthy suspicion

Eganvisited Pigeaufrequently in jail andtold the CBC'sThe Fifth Estate that he believes Pigeau'ssuspectedoverdose death may not be what it appears.

"I think there's reasonable cause to have a healthy suspicion that there may be something more to it than a simple drug overdose," Egan said."I really hope that the police do a thorough investigation."

The Ontario Coroner has yet to rule on Pigeau's death, which is still under investigation by the London Police major crimes unit.

Police told CBC News Thursday thatPigeau's death doesn't appear to be suspicious, but investigators arestill waiting for toxicology results.

Enemies within

Egan said that because Pigeau wanted to change conditions for inmates inside the jail,hehad a number of enemiesand had been the victim of violence on more than one occasion.

"I wrote to the superintendent at the ElginMiddlesexDetention Centre asking them to preserve video evidence from the day before because James had been beaten by several guards and was subsequently taken to the hospital," Egan said.

The Fifth Estate filed a freedom of information request to the Ontario Ministry of Corrections and Community Services in order to obtain any images that may have been captured by the jail's numerous cameras.But despite numerous inquiries, the request has never received a response.

Pigeauhimself described the beating during a series of telephone conversations with the CBC'sThe Fifth Estatebetween September and November 2017, when the program was conducting an investigation into the death of Adam Kargus.

"They threw a hood over my head and as they were dragging me down to the hole, the guy behind me was stepping on my shackles, the handcuffs on my feet. You step on those and basically you release and kick me in the back to get it going again," he said. "That'sbasically what caused all the cuts over my arms."

"I get down there and when they're in the cell they beat the living f--k out of me and then I demand that pictures be taken and they did and I think about an hour, two hours later they found me on the floor unconscious."

'He's never touched fentanyl in his life'

Pigeautalked about the conditions at the jail, which he described as unsanitary, overcrowded, where guards have little regard for inmates' rights and the inmates take drugsto deal with the boredom and the misery of being there.

"No wonder people are depressed. I know the one guy he's never touched fentanyl in his life, but after two weeks of sleeping on the floor and being treated like a piece of shit, as soon as he was offered he didn't even think twice," Pigeau said.

"I actually had to spend three hours babysitting him because he was sitting there drenched in sweat looking like he was going to pass out."

Pigeausaid that drugs get into the jail "one way or another," but most of the time people will smuggle it into the secure facility using their own bodies.

'You basically stick it up the keester'

"They'll wrap up little packages called eggs and they basically put whatever they like in it, tobacco, weed, pills, for some people and the fentanyl that's been killing everybody," Pigeausaid. "You basically stick it up the keester and away you go."

Pigeauadmitted that while he did smoke pot that was smuggled into the jail, he said he knew better than to use fentanylbecause it haskilled so many inmates there.

"You know sometimes they put some nasty chemicals in that. I don't deal with fentanyl, I stay away fromthat," Pigeau said.

Whether Pigeau willingly took the drugs that killed him, or if they were given to him without his knowledge is one of a number of questions that are swirling around the inmate's death, which is the third death at EMDC since Dec. 1, 2017.

'A human being lost his life'

Lawyer Kevin Egansaid it's important for people to keep in mind that while Pigeaumay have had his troubles with the law, like many inmates before him, he was never supposed to die inside the jail.

"The one thing that I think that has to be stressed in all this is that a human being lost his life. An individual had an expectation to be kept safe and he's dead and a family has lost a loved one.

"I know James would want his life to mean something," Egan said, noting Pigeauhad shown an interest in learning more about the legal system before he died.

Egan said the last time he talked to Pigeau was on a Saturday afternoon. Pigeau was found dead in his cell the next morning.

"Part of the discussion I had had with James was he was interested in researching the law and I had a law book I was going to give to him. I had removed the hard cover from it because he wouldn't be allowed to have a hard cover book in the jail," Egan said, noting he never got the chance.

"It's in my car right now with his name on it and I regret that I wasn't able to deliver that to him."