Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General (SOLGEN) has confirmed an inmate died at the Thunder Bay Jail on July 1.
The death comes just weeks after First Nation leaders called for the jail to be shut down over ongoing safety concerns related to overcrowding, understaffing and infrastructure challenges at the 100-year-old facility.
CBC News has inquired about the age of the deceased and whether the death is considered suspicious. A spokesperson for the ministry said in an email Tuesday that “given this matter is subject to multiple investigations, no further information can be provided.”
A spokesperson for the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) told CBC News in an email Tuesday that officers attended the jail just before 2:30 p.m. on July 1 “in response to a report regarding a sudden death.”
“The investigation remains ongoing with partner agencies. No other information is available at this time,” wrote TBPS media relations co-ordinator CJ Goater.
Death investigations in Ontario are led by the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service “to ensure that no death will be overlooked, concealed or ignored.”
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“The findings are used to generate recommendations to help improve public safety and prevent deaths in similar circumstances,” the province’s website says.
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has confirmed it is not involved in the inmate’s death investigation. The independent government agency investigates conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
The new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex (also referred to as the new Thunder Bay Correctional Centre), which is under construction on Highway 61, was meant to replace the existing Thunder Bay Jail and Thunder Bay Correctional Centre. However, both institutions are expected to remain in use after the complex is up and running, and operate under a single administration through a campus model.
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The jail will stay open for at least five years after the complex is completed “in order to allow flexibility in the provincial correctional system,” according to Jayne Harten, director of the delivery and integration branch at SOLGEN.
Harten provided testimony in a recent inquest into the death of 27-year-old Kevin Mamakwa at the Thunder Bay Jail June 2, 2020.
Among the inquest jury’s recommendations is that SOLGEN develop and publicly release a plan to decommission the jail within five years of the opening of the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex.
Jurors also recommended the jail never be repurposed to incarcerate individuals in the future.
