Three in-custody fatalities trigger inquests

The province’s chief medical examiner has called inquests into the deaths of three men, including two who died by suicide in correctional facilities earlier this year.

Craig Flett, 32, was found hanging in his cell in the Stony Mountain Institution prison on Feb. 10 this year.

Corrections officers were able to cut him down and tried to resuscitate him, but he later died of a brain injury. Flett was serving a life sentence at the time.

Sebastian Atkinson, a 25-year-old inmate at the Winnipeg Remand Centre, was found hanging in his cell by a linen sheet tied to a metal bar about five feet from the floor.

Corrections officers and later medical professionals at a hospital attempted to resuscitate him, but he was found to have suffered an irreversible brain injury and pronounced dead on March 25 this year.

Jeremy Peters, 42, of Long Plain First Nation, was detained by Manitoba First Nations Police Service officers due to his heavy intoxication and erratic behaviour on July 9, 2022. Peters, who was uncooperative while he was being arrested and had to be restrained, was placed in a holding cell and was later found not breathing.

Officers gave him first aid and he was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to a combination of cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol intoxication. His death was deemed accidental.

Inquests, which are mandatory in Manitoba when a person dies in police custody or a correctional facility, are held in front of provincial court judges to determine what could have been done to prevent a death and what recommendations could prevent similar ones in the future.

Provincial court officials will determine when and where the three new inquests will be held.

fpcity@winnipegfreepress.com