Pubdate: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 Source: Maple Ridge News (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 Maple Ridge News Contact: http://www.mapleridgenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1328 Authors: Robert Freeman and Monisha Martins Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) NO INQUEST INTO DEATH OF INMATE AT FRCC Two years after 20-year-old Kyle Wigham died in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge, the B.C. coroner decided his death doesn't warrant an inquest. But Wigham's mother Pat isn't bitter. The Chilliwack mom doesn't hold a grudge against the coroner or corrections. However, she is determined to see changes made. "I don't believe children belong in prison," she said Wednesday. Wigham wants to see young, first-time offenders like Kyle sent to restorative justice programs so "they have a chance to redeem themselves," not to prison, where "naive" kids are fed into the hands of street-wise criminals. "They taught Kyle a new drug as far as I'm concerned," Wigham said. Coroner Vincent Stancato found her son died from a heroin overdose and classified his March 14, 2008 death as "accidental," although he noted that a centre staff member did not follow the standard operating procedure of checking inmates every 30-60 minutes. A B.C. Corrections spokesperson would not say whether the staff members mentioned in the coroner's report were reprimanded or disciplined. "We never comment on personnel matters," Marnie Mayhew said. Wigham was sentenced to nine months in jail for robbing a Chilliwack 7-Eleven store, despite the recommendations of a drug counsellor. It was Wigham's mother who basically turned him over to the judicial system, hoping that he would get help for his cocaine addiction. But as predicted by the drug counsellor, Wigham instead found prison an easy place to score drugs and he was introduced to heroin, which proved to be fatal when combined with marijuana. She said blocking the flow of drugs into prisons is one step politicians could take by enacting laws to add jail time to the users and dealers discovered in custody. - ------------------------------- 'Sporadic' checks A prison guard inspected a cell at a Maple Ridge men's prison three times before realizing an inmate was unconscious, even though the 20-year-old was foaming at the mouth. A coroner's report into the death of Kyle Wigham found the guard conducted inspections of the cell "sporadically" throughout the night, not every 30 to 60 minutes as required. Wigham, a Chilliwack resident, was found dead at 8:45 a.m. on March 14, 2008. Coroner Vincent Stancato found Wigham died of an accidental heroin overdose. After Wigham was discovered, prison staff found that the door to the cell he shared with another inmate had been taped shut from the inside and clothes were placed to cover the crack at the bottom of the door. Staff also found a crack pipe to smoke cocaine, fashioned from a pen, in a garbage can as well as a flap with oxycodone in his cell mate's pillowcase, several empty flaps and cut-off fingers from latex gloves, which are commonly used to transport drugs around the jail. The coroner recommended the Maple Ridge prison revise visual inspections to include observations of breathing as well as re-train and test employees to make sure they are aware of standard operating procedures regarding visual cell inspections. B.C. Corrections has implemented several changes following an internal critical incident review after Wigham's death. The changes focused on limiting opportunities for drugs to get into the prison. Spokesperson Marnie Mayhew could not provide details on the changes for security reasons, but assured the prison does all it can to prevent inmates from accessing illegal drugs. Mayhew added that the coroner's recommendation that staff make sure inmates are breathing during visual cell inspections will not be implemented for safety concerns. "In order to determine if they are breathing or not, [the guards] would have to enter the cell and get up close," Mayhew said. "In the course of doing that, they would wake up the inmate and continue to do that on a regular basis throughout the night. No one wants to get woken up repeatedly during the night." by Monisha Martins - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D