The inquest into the death of Freeman Zong began yesterday.
During day one of the inquest, Provincial Court Judge Christine Harapiak was presented a CCTV recording of the common room, which Zong, 26, shared with three other inmates.
The video was of July 14th, 2016, and featured the hours of 6 pm till the time Zong was taken away by EMS personnel around 8 pm.
Judge Harapiak also heard of Zong’s suicidal rating, which was classified as medium status. He was to be watched every 30 minutes to make sure he was okay.
At 7:33, a corrections officers called a Code Red alert, after finding Zong in the shower. EMS arrived at the scene at 7:44 pm.
The staff made resuscitation attempts and called emergency medical responders, however, those efforts were unsuccessful, and Zong died at the Dauphin Correctional Centre.
The computer system used to control the doors at the centre had a malfunction during the evening. A reboot was necessary to allow the system to get back up and running. During that time, the doors were not able to be opened. The EMTs were able to arrive with no issue, but were delayed when leaving, as staff attempted to open the gates manually. This problem had never occurred before and has not occurred since.
Court recessed at 4 pm, and will resume this morning at 10.
