The jury at a coroner’s inquest into the death of an inmate at the Prince Albert Correctional Centre has given out 6 recommendations.
John Bob Glen Custer, committed suicide at the facility in November, 2013. The 19 year-old was facing a second degree murder charge in relation to the death of Heather Ballantyne at the time of the incident. Custer had hung himself in his cell using a blanket.
The jury heard all the evidence around Custer’s suicide.
During the inquest, Chris Bosch and Gavin Jutras, the two guards assigned to Custer’s unit, testified they did not check on Custer on the night in question. It is the policy of the correctional centre for night shift guards to do hourly checks on the inmates to make sure there is a ‘living breathing body’ in the cell. The guards said they did not do a single check on night shift, but had signed for the checks. They testified that there are other guards who commit to the same practice.
Allen Stubbs, Director for PACC, says the guards ‘simply didn’t do their jobs.’ Both guards no longer work at the facility.
Custer went unmonitored from 10:30pm to 5:30am when his body was finally discovered by another guard. The autopsy report had determined Custer had been dead for 3-5 hours before he was found.
In their recommendations the jury suggests PACC should hire another supervisor to work at the facility during night shift. Right now there is only one supervisor on duty for the 10 different units at the correctional centre. They also suggest random audits of the facility’s camera systems to ensure correctional officers are completing their required duties. Also, it was recommended that if another supervisor is hired they should be responsible to visit each unit on a night shift and provide shift reports. The jury says night shift employees should be rotated more quickly to avoid complacency.
The jury also asked PACC to remove the smoke detector cages from the cells or to replace them with ones that would break under a certain weight if possible. Custer had hung himself from the grate covering the smoke detector.
In their final recommendation, the jury asked the correctional centre to provide training on suicide prevention and awareness for all new staff at the facility.
Family of Custer were at the final days of the inquest, but they declined to comment.
The inquest took place this week at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Prince Albert