Dead inmate entered jail high on opiates and took more pills later: report

A Cape Breton man who died in his cell had near fatal levels of methadone in his blood as he entered the jail and a bag full of pills in his pocket, according to an autopsy report that has raised questions about how jails monitor dangerously intoxicated inmates.

"How come nothing was noticed when he was beingvideoedconstantly by the guards?" said ErnieLeBlanc, whose son JasonMarcelLeBlancdied Jan. 31 at Cape Breton Correctional Facility.

"As far as I'm concerned nobody was watching."

Powerful drug combination

The report by the medical examiner's office obtained by TheCanadian Press attributesLeBlanc'sdeath to a combination ofmethadone andbromezapan, but doesn't indicate how often he waschecked or what health staff at the jail knew about the powerfuldrug in his body.

The medical examiner also says the video shows the inmate'sbreathing started to slow at 1:50 a.m. and it took 45 minutes beforecorrections officers found him lying unresponsive in his cell. Hewas declared dead at 2:45 a.m.

The video images of the 42-year-old labourer who becameaddicted to opiates during the years spent working in Alberta oil fieldsalso show him pulling a bag ofbromezapanpillsout of his pants before he begins to lose consciousness, says thereport by Dr.MarnieWood submitted on June 8.

ErnieLeBlancalso says he's been told by the deputysuperintendent that his son "didn't look his best" and had
abnormal blood pressure at the time he went to the jail on aparole violation on a Saturday afternoon about 14 hours before hedied.

Autopsy raises questions about medical care

He says the autopsy raises questions about the level of medicalcare he received as his intoxication deepened and how he managed toremove a package of pills from his clothing and ingest them withoutbeing detected.

"The report says you can see him hiding pills, taking pills outof his pants, bending down under the bed ... turning his back to thecamera," the grieving father asked during a telephone interview.

"The cell should have been checked right away."

Anemailedresponse from the provincial Justice Department saysan internal report is being finalized and will be shared with thefamily, but until then the minister and department are decliningcomment.

Six jail deaths due to unnatural causessince 2010

Nova Scotia doesn't automatically require a public inquest intonon-natural prison deaths as in some other Canadian provinces. Ithasn't had a public inquiry into a prison death since 2010, when ajudge looked at how HowardHydedied in jail after being repeatedlytasered.

Since that inquiry, there have been six deaths in the province'sjails due to unnatural causes, a number of them overdoses.

HowardSapers, the head of the federal Office of the CorrectionalInvestigator, said if the facts are as stated by the father and theautopsy, it warrants an external inquiry to see whether protocolsand procedures were followed, and whether similar deaths can beavoided at the Cape Breton Correctional Facility.

"This situation, if accurately reported, really demands anexternal review," he said in a telephone interview.

Better training for prison officers

John Peach, the executive director of the John Howard Society ofNova Scotia, says deaths in Nova Scotia's police lockup are examinedby an outside agency, and the same should be true of deaths inprovincial jails.

"They should have taken him [LeBlanc]and had him medicallychecked out. It's standard protocol now," he said after viewing theautopsy.

In 2005, a police commission recommended officers overseeingprison cells be better trained to monitor people who are under theinfluence of drugs, after James Guy Bailey's lifeless body was foundby a jailer who failed to check on him regularly in a Sydney lockup.

Another jailhouse death in Halifax this month is currently beingreviewed by the Serious Incident Response Team.

Dr. Evan Wood, an addictions medicine physician at St. Paul'sHospital in Vancouver and a professor at the University of BritishColumbia, said methadone produces symptoms of drowsiness and slurredwords, but it depends when the person is seen.

Medical alarm bells

He said the impact of the drug tends to peak about four hoursafter ingestion, and therefore it depends whenLeBlancdrank it.

But Wood also said any suspected use of methadone should set offmedical alarm bells.

"In the case of methadone or anotheropioid,and similarly if abenzodiazepineingestion was suspected,this should be viewed as amedical emergency and the individual transferred to an emergencydepartment or other suitable setting," he said.

This would allow medical staff to administer intravenousnaloxoneto arrest potentially fatal overdose, he added.

LeBlancsaid he's asked a lawyer to look into whether JusticeDepartment policies requiring searches and special watches forintoxicated inmates have been followed.

Emergency room treatment

The policies also state that if there are no health staff on dutyand an offender is showing withdrawal symptoms, the inmate "must betransported to an emergency room," and if health-care monitoring isrequired the inmate should be placed in a facility that can provideit.

A spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, whichoversees prison health care, said the director of prison care couldnot be reached for comment.

ErnieLeBlancsaid as it stands he's doubtful the province upheldits duty to care for his son.