A judge in Manitoba says policies aimed at preventing suicide at correctional centres weren’t followed in the 2016 death of an inmate at the Dauphin Correction Centre.
On July 14th, 2016, Freeman Zong was found dead in a shower area of the jail.
In an inquest report into Zong’s death authored by Judge Christine Harapiak, it said that Zong was arrested three days before his death after his brother called 911 citing that Zong had fired a gun at his girlfriend and threatened to hurt himself.
Months before his death, Zong was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had told his assessor that he was abusing prescription drugs and alcohol to try and cope with his mother’s death.
After his arrest, he was taken to the hospital for a cut on his arm. During the visit, he denied feeling suicidal, but the admitting officer ranked him at medium risk of harming himself due to the information on the prosecutor’s info sheet about the incident that resulted in his arrest.
According to the inquest report, none of the officers who had direct contact with him on the day of his death felt that he was at risk of harming himself.
The report went on to say that after a number of “upsetting” phone calls made from the jail, Zong went into his cell, and hanged himself from a vent behind a blind corner in the washroom as the shower was running.
Harapiak found that while Manitoba Corrections had developed adequate policies to prevent inmate suicides. When it came to Zong’s death, there were “multiple gaps” in the implementation of the protocol with Zong.
The Manitoba Corrections suicide policy requires direct, personal observation of how the inmate is doing every once every half hour, and that corresponding records are to be made. On the day of Zong’s death, there was no one designated to complete these reports.
In her recommendations, Harapiak suggested developing a simple checklist with all the components of the suicide prevention policy so that they can be reviewed daily by all staff who interact with an at-risk inmate.
She also recommended changing the vents in the correctional centre to security grade vents, which has already been done according to the report. She also recommends having corrections staff communicate with phone contacts requested by an inmate who is at risk of suicide and other measures to ensure that suicide prevention policies are followed through.
