Mother of man who died in police custody supports proposed Halifax sobering centre

Jeannette Rogers believes if there was a sobering centre in Halifax, her son may have never died in a police jail cell.

Halifax regional council will vote Tuesday on a proposed sobering centre — a short-term recovery facility staffed mainly by peer support workers — and one that Jeanette Rogers says her son, Corey Rogers, would have benefited from on the night of June 15, 2016.

"Over the long term, I think he might have gotten the help that he needed," said Rogers. "And he would've survived." 

Corey Rogers was arrested for public intoxication in June 2016 outside the hospital where his wife had given birth to their baby.

Police officers said the 41-year old spat at them so they put a spit hood over his head and carried him into a jail cell. He suffocated and died less than an hour later.

Rogers had a "lengthy record" of being arrested and put in a cell for public intoxication, according to court documents. 

His mother believes if he was taken to a facility where he wasn't treated like a criminal he may still be here today.

A proposed three-year pilot project before Halifax regional council would see the municipality partner with the province to create a sobering centre. The motion comes after two years of research and consultation by Halifax's Public Safety Office.

It recommends establishing a facility with the capacity to care for at least 10 people. Halifax and the province would split costs of approximately $278,000 this year and $980,000 each of the next two years.

Staffing would include peer support workers and culturally appropriate and gender inclusive supports but there's no mention of medical health professionals in the motion. 

The goal, it says, would be to connect patients with the proper services, reduce pressure on first responders and hospital emergency rooms and stop criminalizing addiction.

"It really provides the right service, in the right place, by the right people, at the right time," said Dr. Leah Genge, a family physician who specializes in addiction medicine.

Genge works with the Mobile Outreach Street Health program in Halifax. She says she has seen the negative effects of criminalizing addiction.

"I see a lot of people who are suffering. Who have had unimaginably difficult lives and continue to have unimaginably difficult lives," she said. "It all comes down to humanity."