Inquests to probe three in-custody deaths
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Inquests will be held into the deaths of three men, including two who died by hanging themselves in jail cells.
Dr. John K. Younes, the chief medical examiner, called for the inquests of Alvin Choken, 36, Arley Harper, 29, and Frank Manoakeesick, 52, on Tuesday.
Choken, who lived in Winnipeg, was arrested on July 11, 2025 and held at the Winnipeg Remand Centre in a cell by himself.
He was discovered the next day, hanging from the top bunk by a ligature made from a linen sheet that had been torn into strips.
Jail staff tried to resuscitate Choken before he was rushed to hospital, but he was found to have a brain injury and was pronounced dead on July 14, 2025.
Harper, who was from Island Lake in northeast Manitoba, was in custody at Headingley jail when he was discovered hanging from the bed in his cell on Dec. 13, 2025.
A corrections officer tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead.
Manoaekeesick, who was from St. Theresa Point First Nation, presented himself to Winnipeg Police Service officers to be arrested on a warrant in September 2024.
Manoakeesick, who was being “calm and co-operative,” was escorted into a police car without handcuffs and taken to be processed at police headquarters downtown.
A paramedic assessed him there before he was placed in a cell and he was regularly checked on, but at some point, he was found unresponsive on the floor of the cell.
Paramedics rushed him to St. Boniface Hospital, but doctors were unable to save him. He was pronounced dead on Sept. 15, 2024.
The medical examiner’s office determined, after an autopsy, that he died of heart disease, which was contributed to by methamphetamine use and hypertension. His death was deemed an accident.
Inquests, which are mandatory in Manitoba when a person dies in police custody or a correctional facility, are meant to determine what could have been done to prevent the death and what could prevent similar deaths.
Court officials will determine when and where the inquests will be held and who will participate.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca