The jury heard testimony from fellow prisoners, who were also in the corrections vehicle with Alexander Joseph when he died, during the third day of the Coroner’s inquest into his death.
Joseph, 36, died on Oct. 4, 2018, of a suspected overdose while he was being transported with eight other prisoners in a corrections van between Prince George and Maple Ridge.
A jury of five and presiding coroner Lyn Blenkinsop, heard testimony today (Aug. 11) from fellow prisoners as well as a corrections officer about the circumstances of Joseph’s death.
During the previous days of the inquiry, the jury heard testimony establishing the corrections van had stopped near 100 Mile House to seek assistance from an RCMP Officer for an emergency.
The RCMP officer, corrections staff and two passersby with medical training then performed CPR on Joseph until paramedics arrived and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dr. Josef Stephen, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified yesterday that Joseph died from a fentanyl-related drug overdose.
Zacharie Brock, an inmate who was also being transported in the van with Joseph, testified that he fell asleep during the ride but was awoken by banging near Williams Lake.
“I don’t know how long later but someone woke me up and said Alex was ODing,” he said adding it was hard to judge time in the vehicle as he did not have access to a clock.
The corrections van was divided into cells which were separated by plexiglas and bars. Brock said he was not in the same cell as Jospeh and could not see him but could hear the other inmates.
He said when the guards arrived in Williams Lake for a rest stop the prisoners were banging on the walls of the van.
“It took a long time for them to pull over but I don’t know how long it was maybe 45 minutes to an hour before they did pull over.”
The jury was only able to hear a video recording from the prisoner who was sharing a compartment with Joseph, Gord Hansen, as he is now deceased. The video was a recording of a statement Hansen gave to the major crime unit in the Fraser Valley two days after the Oct. 4 incident in 2018.
However Blenkinsop, cautioned the jury because there would be no opportunity to ask questions or challenge evidence while listening to the hour-long recording.
“I need you to remember that caution that we cannot check the reliability of what is being said.”
In the recording, Hansen said he observed Jospeh snorting a substance after the van left Prince George. He said Joseph fell over onto the floor sometime between Hixon and Dunkley, and in Quesnel Hansen tried unsuccessfully to wake Joseph up but at that point could still hear him snoring.
Hansen said it was when they were in Williams Lake that he noticed Joseph’s hand was cold and then attempted to get the attention of the other inmates.
Hansen said the inmates were hollering and banging when the van stopped in Williams Lake at the A&W.
“They pulled ahead maybe 50 feet and stopped again and that’s when I thought they were coming to check on us so we kind of waited and they take off and go again and that’s when we really started hollering and screaming.”
Matthew Humphreys, another inmate who was in the van but not in Joseph’s compartment, also testified the inmates were banging when the van stopped in Williams Lake.
“I woke up when I started hearing the guys talking and we pulled over a few minutes later. One of the other guys started saying I think this guy is dead and they started banging on the cells.”
However, counsel for corrections Johnny Van Camp questioned whether banging and razzing the guards was a common part of inmate culture and read to the jury a prior statement Humphrey’s gave to investigators.
“Our job is not to make their job easy […] if a guard tries to make our day hell then we try and make their day hell. It’s just tit-for-tat.”
The jury also heard testimony from Bruce Cox, the corrections officer who was driving the vehicle. He explained during his morning check of the vehicle the van’s video monitoring system was working but the audio was not.
“Back then we only relied on video because the inmates played a lot of games and banged so we just relied on the video.”
He said it was an uneventful trip with the exception of banging when the vehicle had to stop for construction at Red Rock and then again in Williams Lake when he and the other corrections officer, James Brown, stopped at the A&W.
Cox said he felt vibrations and banging and when he checked the video monitor saw that the prisoners were looking out of the window at civilians so he decided to move the van about 20 or 30 feet away.
“Just so that it would stop them from banging and disrupting the people,” said Cox. “That is a normal thing when we stop the same thing was happening at Red Rock they were trying to get the flagger's attention.”
He testified that when he looked at the cameras he did not notice Joseph on the floor but added it was not unusual for inmates to sleep on the floor and had seen inmates do that before.
Cox said after their bathroom break, they proceeded to drive forward until Brown noticed an unusual hand movement on the video monitors.
“James said something is wrong and I looked over and saw a gesture.”
He said this was about 45 minutes after the van left Williams Lake.
“They were not trying to get our attention because there was an emergency in the back until James said to me there’s something wrong,” said Cox. “We did not go down the highway with a bunch of screaming inmates.”
He also explained at that time in 2018 it was not policy to open the doors and physically check on the inmates unless the van was in a secure facility. He said in a crisis situation the procedure was to contact management immediately.
Cox said banging in the transports and inmates covering their cameras was very common because they did not want to be transported to another facility.
“They are pissed off so they do act up and they do cover their cameras.”
In his testimony, Brock also confirmed that he and a number of the prisoners had to be forcibly extracted because they did not want to be transferred away from Prince George Regional Corrections Centre.
Cox’s testimony will continue tomorrow, which is the fourth and final day of the inquest.
The jury, who are unable to make findings that imply legal responsibility because no one is on trial, will then have an opportunity to make recommendations which are aimed at preventing similar deaths.
