Coroner sets date for inquest into 6 deaths at Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre

An inquest into the deaths of six people who died while in custody at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, or after transfer to hospital from the jail, will begin next month.

On Friday, Dr. Karen Schiff, the regional supervising coroner for Hamilton and Niagara, announced the inquest will begin Nov. 25. It is expected to last 15 days and hear from about 15 witnesses, she said in a news release. 

The inquest, which was announced in August, is mandatory under the Coroners Act and will examine the deaths of Jason Archer, Paul Debien, Nathaniel Golden, Igor Petrovic, Christopher Sharp, and Robert Soberal.

Inquests are mandatory when a death occurs while a person is in custody or being detained, except in circumstances where a death investigation determines the death occurred from natural causes, according to a government website. 

The deaths in question occurred between 2017 and 2021.

Stephanie Rea, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, previously told CBC Hamilton the Office of the Chief Coroner can choose to examine deaths together "when it is believed that the deaths arose from the same event or a common cause."

On Oct. 21, the coroner's office is set to start a 15-day inquest into five deaths at the Niagara Detention Centre. In both inquests, juries may make recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths. 

Rea has also told CBC Hamilton inquests generally only occur after all other police or government investigations and prosecutions, and that they take time to prepare.

In August, Cedar Hopperton, who leads the Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project, said she felt "mostly grief" after hearing about the inquests. The Hamilton detention centre is also known as the Barton Street jail. 

"I think what we've seen so far is a pattern of blaming prisoners for their own experiences when actually everybody who died in jail dies because of jail. So, I don't see a lot of the system actually taking responsibility. I see them just putting the responsibility back on prisoners."

Overcrowding and segregation can be "deadly," Hopperton said. 

Family members of people who've died in the prison, including Soberal, Archer, Debien and Sharp, have raised questions about the circumstances of their loved ones' deaths, and the quality of previous investigations into them.