An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks An inmate’s ‘chilling’ memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks

Richard MacInnis lives with the haunting memory of finding his friend's body in a Halifax jail cell.

Richard MacInnis lives with the haunting memory of finding his friend’s body in a Halifax jail cell.

That experience at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Jan. 15, 2024, convinced the former inmate more could have been done to save Richard Murray, a 60-year-old man he’d “looked out for” for months — and whom he’d helped save from a prior suicide attempt.

In a recent interview, MacInnis said that on the day he found the body, he noticed that Murray had tied a bedsheet across the room, partially obscuring a view through the cell window of the spot where he had hanged himself with a strip of cloth.

The scene has left MacInnis wondering why a correctional officer hadn’t spotted the sheet — guards are supposed to peer through cell windows every 30 minutes to check on inmates. “They (correctional officers) would have seen a bedsheet up and you would have seen his feet hanging underneath it,” said MacInnis, who is now out of jail and working in Halifax.

“Their protocol is to see a live, breathing body. That’s why they check on us,” he said. “He (Murray) wasn’t even in the bed …. He was at the front of the bed with the bedsheet in front of him (obscuring the view).”

The provincial Justice Department declined to provide an interview with the jail superintendent, saying the matter is before the courts in civil litigation launched by Murray’s family. It also declined to answer questions about the standard operating procedures when correctional officers are doing rounds.

However, a source with knowledge of the rules in the provincial jails, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said the expectation for guards is that they “check to see (inmates) are OK, every 30 minutes.”

The other key observation MacInnis made was on the condition of the body. MacInnis said Murray’s body was in rigor mortis, “a clear indicator” his friend had died at least several hours before he encountered him. The autopsy report by the medical examiner, provided to the family, doesn’t provide a specific time of death.