Stony Mountain prison works to remove suicide risk: judge

Officials at Stony Mountain Institution are working to reduce or eliminate suspension points in cells after at least seven inmates used electrical conduit pipes to hang themselves in the past 20 years, an inquest judge says.

Prison officials are “strategizing to reduce and/or eliminate the potential risks associated with (the) suspension points,” wrote Judge Cynthia Devine in her report on the Dec. 8, 2019, suicide of Tyson Kane Roulette in the federal prison north of Winnipeg.

The 34-year-old Indian Posse gang leader was eight years into a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted murder at the time. In September 2007, he ordered an underling to “take care” of apparent rival gang members at a Boyd Avenue house, but the low-level gangster fatally shot an innocent man.

Roulette hanged himself after tying a bed sheet to an electrical pipe on the ceiling of his cell.

At least six other inmates hanged themselves from the same kind of electrical pipe in the past two decades.

Corrections officials were not immediately able to comment when asked by the Free Press late Monday afternoon.

“It appears that (Correctional Service Canada) is taking steps to deal with the issue,” wrote Devine in her report on the inquest, which she presided over in May.

In Manitoba, inquests must be held into in-custody deaths, whether in a correctional facility or police cell.

Provincial court judges have no jurisdiction over federal prisons. As such, Devine had no authority to make formal recommendations on prison policies and procedures, as is typical of inquests, but did make observations about Roulette’s death and on the investigation conducted by the correctional service.

Devine said corrections officials have made improvements in several areas.

Roulette’s death was unique among suicides at Stony Mountain in that he hanged himself during the day, rather than after the night-time lockup, as is typical, said Devine.

Roulette last left his cell for opioid agonist treatment — drugs meant to reduce cravings for people addicted to opioids — that morning and returned just before 8 a.m.

No one entered his cell until several hours after his death. Corrections officers patrolling the area did not look inside his cell throughout the day.

Just before 10 p.m., staff found his body after inmates asked them to check on Roulette because they thought he might be dead.

An inmate who had looked in his cell several times that day believes Roulette had died by about 2 p.m.

Devine said Stony officials have taken corrective measures over the failure of staff to properly conduct security checks and inmate counts, as happened that day.

“I am satisfied that there are no systemic issues regarding counts and security patrols; the adequate policies were simply not followed in this case,” said Devine.

Devine said several factors led to Roulette’s death.

“Tyson Roulette likely believed he had nothing to live for,” the judge wrote.

Although Roulette was involved in the drug trade and other gang activity behind prison walls, he also sat on an inmate welfare committee and had a leadership role in prison.

He was frequently asked to mediate and quell conflicts among his gang and others. Security officials consulted with him about where in the institution to place inmates.

As a result, he was considered by some members of his gang and other gangs as a “rat.” There appear to have been threats against his life in the months before his death.

Early in his sentence, Roulette told prison officials he wanted to leave the Indian Posse gang, but it appears they did not believe him. His affiliation with the gang automatically prevented him from various programs, security classifications and transfers.

He was denied a transfer to another prison, wasn’t offered opportunities to disengage and wasn’t able to get his gang tattoos removed.

Federal corrections officials are planning changes and initiatives to give inmates opportunities to leave gangs. Devine said those changes may help to improve the conditions that led to Roulette’s suicide and may help prevent other deaths.

Devine said family and social stress from outside prison walls and his increasing drug use, including methamphetamine, likely played a role in Roulette’s death.

The correctional service’s internal investigation identified the need for training to disaffiliate inmates from gangs.

Devine agreed with that recommendation, but added that particularly in Manitoba, where most gang members are Indigenous, recommendations on gangs and disaffiliation should be based on the history of colonialism, residential schools and intergenerational trauma.

She said all inmates at Stony Mountain, the majority of whom are Indigenous, should be provided access to Indigenous programs and a healing model.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca