WARNING: This story references thought of suicide.
Jeffrey Bell told an Ontario inquest that he and fellow correctional officers at the Thunder Bay Jail “are constantly fighting the age of our building and the hiring practices of our employer.”
Bell testified Monday and Tuesday morning before a coroner’s jury examining the June 2, 2020, death of Kevin Mamakwa, a member of Kingfisher Lake First Nation and the nephew of Kiiwetinoong NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa.
Bell, an eight-year employee, was working the night the 27-year-old was found dead in his cell.
He testified he checked Mamakwa’s cell block at midnight and then went to the room where employees take their breaks. Two minutes later, he said, he heard yelling.
The jury at the inquest also watched video footage that appears to show several correctional officers responding to Mamakwa’s cell block and discovering his body. His cellmate, Jamie DaCosta, is seen being ushered out of the cell while Bell and other correctional officers administer CPR to Mamakwa.
Inquests are mandatory under the provincial Coroners Act when a person dies in custody. The five-member jury is tasked with answering questions including medical causes of death and how someone died — by natural causes, accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined. They may also provide recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths.
Jurors are prohibited from making any finding of legal responsibility or laying blame on anyone.
Earlier in the Mamakwa inquest, which began June 1, the jury heard an audio recording from DaCosta saying it took between 10 and 20 minutes for correctional officers to respond to his calls for help when he found Mamakwa’s body after returning to the cell from the washroom. Video footage shown at the inquest appears to show a response within a few minutes.
In the audio recording, DaCosta also described how he and Mamakwa were quarantined together during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two were going through drug withdrawal, and Mamakwa told DaCosta he didn’t have access in jail to his prescription for suboxone, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.
DaCosta said Mamakwa was feeling sick and sleep deprived, and that his mood was up and down.
Earlier in the inquest, the jury was read a letter found in Mamakwa’s pocket after he died that included him referencing thoughts of ending his life.
Bell also testified about staffing challenges and a lack of breaks given to correctional officers during night shifts in 2020.
“You knew you weren’t getting a break, so you just kind of ate when you could.”
Correctional officers now get four breaks during a 12-hour shift, said Bell. However, the facility remains “chronically” understaffed and over capacity — as many as four or five inmates in a single cell, he said.
“There are days when I’m putting people in cells where I actually feel like a bad human being because I don’t care what crime you committed — I wouldn’t want to be treated that way,” he said of the 100-year-old building’s conditions.
Mamakwa’s death was Bell’s first major incident since he began working at the jail.
“I’ve had multiple since then, but you never forget the first one.”
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General told CBC News that as of Friday, “the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre had an operational capacity of 194 and the Thunder Bay Jail’s operational capacity was 134.”
According to Bell, there’s often more than 200 inmates at any given time.
While the COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges, Bell said, “in some ways, it was a break” as there were fewer inmates in the facility.
In part to address overcrowding issues in Thunder Bay, the 462-bed Thunder Bay Correctional Complex on Highway 61 is expected to be completed next year. The Thunder Bay Jail and Thunder Bay Correctional Centre will remain open for the foreseeable future.
Bell told the inquest he has concerns about the Thunder Bay Jail continuing to operate without changes. For inmates to be treated as human beings, “you’re going to have to empty that building and you’re going to have to spend millions of dollars, and gut it and start from the beginning.”
“It is not designed nor is it set up to do what we are doing with it. We are throwing Band-aids on bullet holes and we are doing everything we can to keep, frankly, a ship that’s already under water afloat.”
On May 14, the Ontario government announced it is hiring over 700 correctional staff, including correctional officers, nurses and critical support workers, in 2026.
Recruitment efforts are already underway for the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex, according to a news release from the province.
According to Bell, the Thunder Bay Jail is hiring, “but the problem is they don’t work on proper training and retention.
“You can hire all day long, but when people come in and see what our job is, they burn out in a few months and they leave,” he told the inquest.
Adding jail staff has meant more workload, Bell said.
“From 2018 when I started my career to 2026 today, the whole building and every officer in that building has been on survival mode to try and get everything done.”
Bell is among 13 witnesses who’ve testified so far.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the jury was hearing from a panel of four witnesses about progress made at the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex as well as current plans for the Thunder Bay Jail.
The inquest proceedings are being streamed in English online with Oji-Cree translation. They’re expected to wrap up by the end of this week.
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