Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Darren Bernhardt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

ADDICTS NEED MORE RESOURCES: JURY

A mandatory drug addictions awareness program for all members of the 
Saskatoon police personnel is one of eight recommendations by a 
coroner's inquest jury looking to prevent further deaths in detention cells.

The six-person jury also stressed the city's need for a detoxifi 
cation facility with long-term treatment and after-care programs and 
counselling.

Saskatoon's "incredible lack of resources" for addicts was a focal 
point of the inquest into the 2005 death of Dona Sanderson.

The 42-year-old aboriginal woman and mother of a young girl died on 
June 26, 2005, in police custody after being arrested on drug charges 
and an outstanding warrant. Sanderson was arrested June 19 on a 
routine traffi c stop when police found 270 grams of marijuana under 
her seat. They didn't know she also had a packet of cocaine, worth 
about $5,000, hidden in her vagina.

While she was locked up, waiting for a court appearance the next 
morning, the drug leached into her system through the sandwich bag in 
which it was wrapped. Sanderson collapsed and stopped breathing early 
on June 20. She was taken off life-support six days later.

The inquest wrapped up on Monday and the six-member jury, comprised 
of five women and one man, was charged with finding how, where, when 
and by what means Sanderson died and with making recommendations to 
avoid similar deaths.

"I think the recommendations were excellent," said Michelle 
LeClaire-Harding, the Sanderson family's lawyer.

Recommendations won't bring back their loved one, but there is a 
sense of gratifi cation in probing the reasons behind Sanderson's 
death and bringing those to light, LeClaire-Harding said.

"I think those last moments of her life were made loud and clear, but 
I don't think there will ever be closure," she added.

There is no binding requirement in the Coroner's Act for any 
recommendations to be acted on, so "at the end of the day, it's up to 
the police to decide what they're going to do," LeClaire-Harding said.

The jury also suggested participants of the provincial methadone 
program should submit to weekly drug-testing upon receipt of their dosage.

Sanderson was part of the program but her system also contained 
cocaine, the active ingredient in cannabis and a sedative.

The police service should salvage the matron program it scrapped 20 
years ago, which had female civilians working in the area of the 
cells to solely attend to female inmates' needs, the jury recommended.

The matron would be an advocate and provide peer support and guidance.

There was debate during the inquest as to whether Sanderson would 
have revealed her cocaine stash to a female peer.

The matron program was replaced with female special constables, but 
they fall short of serving the same purpose, said lawyer Dawn 
McBride, who represented the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry 
Societies at the inquest.

"Her specific task isn't to be in the cell area performing human 
contact and intervention," she said.

No one from the police service testifi ed at the inquest to answer 
that question. The service does not want to respond to the 
recommendations until it receives the full coroner's report, said 
spokesperson Alyson Edwards.

McBride had urged the jury to acknowledge the larger systemic issues 
surrounding aboriginal women in prison and their needs. She hoped to 
see recommendations that would direct police to consider social 
factors, such as children, addictions and mental health, before 
opting to lock someone up.

"I understand that a police station is not the place to deal with 
social issues, so maybe there would be somewhere else these women 
should go for the help they need," McBride said. "We can never 
understand cases like this (Sanderson's) in a vacuum.

We can't ignore the social issues that are there.

That's why we wanted standing at the inquest." The police detention 
unit should also have a portable telephone for emergency 911 
communications in order to accurately relay the condition of 
prisoners, the jury recommended.

In Sanderson's case, the 911 call was made from the detention booking 
counter, away from the cells.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman