courthouse


The on duty guard was one of several witnesses on the final day of testimony in the the Coronary Inquest on the death of Corey John Cross Tuesday afternoon.

The 36 year old Gull Lake man died while being held at the Swift Current RCMP Detachment on April 22, 2009.

The most newsworthy moments of the second day of testimony were questions surrounding inconsistencies with the guard's log and the time Cross was found dead. The guard on duty, Stan Hadwin, couldn't account for why his logs listed Cross as "resting" on checks that would have been carried out after the discovery of his body.

Hadwin had three prisoners at the time, and had been instructed to place Cross in Cell 3, which at the time was considered the "suicide cell" because of its direct location to the Guards post.  The other two were placed together in Cell 1. While the policy for all guards with a suicidal prisoner is to call in another guard to keep close watch on the prisoner in question, Hadwin had been instructed by his superiors to just keep an eye on him by himself.  

This wasn't Hadwin's first encounter with Cross, as Hadwin had been previously employed at the Psychiatric Ward where Cross had been admitted before. Hadwin claims to have known Cross very well, calling him quiet and nonthreatening. 

He testified a guard's main duties are to perform the routine checks on the prisoners, which is about every 5 minutes, and record them in their logs, also commenting on their current state, or what they are doing.  Hadwin had mentioned that sometimes to save time he would fill in the log time checks before hand, and then fill in the comments section as follows, which was something the guards were not to do.

Hadwin mentioned that this particular day had been pretty busy as the prisoners were coming to and from court and trying to make calls to lawyers.  He recorded in the log at 11:24am he served the prisoners lunch and everyone was fine.  At 1:19pm in the log Hadwin had recorded that Cross was in his cell resting, and his next check at 1:24pm, it states that he was still resting. 

According to testimony from Constable Steve Hurst and Sergeant Michelle Kenke, they had already found Cross in his cell at 1:08pm and he was pronounced dead at 1:15pm. Even after taking into account testimony that the guard's clock was six minutes fast, the time of discovery is inconsistent with the times recorded in the guard log. 

Hadwin appeared to be struggling to remember exact details of the day of Cross's death. He didn't have an explanation for why his logs would have been filled out that way. Hadwin testified he was very busy with the other two prisoners at times on that day, but also said he had a hard time remembering it all as his memory had faded in the three years since Cross' death.

Hadwin testified he was shaken up after Cross' death and said there have been major improvements since.

As for the confusion over Cross' two t-shirts, Hadwin said he does not know where the black t-shirt Cross was wearing had came from, but does remember him wearing a white t-shirt. Another member testified to Cross wearing the white shirt earlier in his detainment, while others had only remembered him in the black shirt. The inquest had been told that Cross was found dead with a white fabric tied around his neck and his prison cell.

Testimony both from Hadwin and other members indicated prisoners are only supposed to have one layer of clothing at all times.

The final witness of the day was Swift Current RCMP Staff Sgt. Allan MacDonell. He discussed some of the changes they have made since Cross' death.

They installed closed circuit cameras in April 2010, a year after Cross died. He notes they have made some changes to the cells so there is very little risk of patients harming themselves. Sergeant MacDonnell says after the incident they started using "suicide gowns" where the person in question couldn't use them to hurt themselves.

A physical security reviewer also testified about the benefits of retrofit cells designed to minimize hanging points. They are meant to remove blind-spots, enhance viewing of cells and reduce suicide risk. However, they are very costly and the City of Swift Current has to approve every cost.

Coroner Robert Kennedy, Q.C., of Saskatoon will give a summary to the jury on Wednesday morning at 9:30am at the Court of Queen's Bench in Swift Current.

Click here for Tuesday morning's report

Click here for Monday afternoon's report

Click here for Monday morning's report