When families are forgotten: No answers as another Barton jail death revealed

Sharla Archer knows her brother Jason died inside the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre in August of 2017.

She believes it was a drug overdose that killed him or at least, that's what the coroner's office suspected when it notified her family that the 30-year-old had died.

But other than that, she says, almost a-year-and a half later,the family has receivedno other details about what happened to her brother, how exactly he died, or if any investigation is even taking place into the incident.

Now, spurred on by reports of multiple deaths out of the same facility in recent years, Archer is speaking out for the first time prompting the question: just how many inmates have died inside the Barton Street jail of drug overdoses in the last several years?

"They literally didn't tell us anything other than 'he's dead,'" Archer told CBC News.

These are people. They are human beings and we have to treat them like human beings.- Sharla Archer

"We never thought being in jail he would die there. We thought he would get help we never thought he could die in government care."

Kevin Eagan, alawyer who has been involved in an inquest examining deaths at the jail, says that while survivng familiesare typically not all that well treatedby the jail system,this case is still not normal.

He said the family should have by now received a toxicology report and an initial report from the coroner.

"They don't keep the families informed. Families have to push the coroner," Eagan said.

Archer is one of several men who went inside the jail, never to come back out.

His situationis a similar storyto last week, when charges against a Hamilton man on trial for robbing a local pot dispensary were withdrawn in court after he died of a suspected overdose.

These deaths come after a massive coroner's inquest that was called last year into eight overdose deaths between 2012 and 2016, where a jury made 62 recommendations on how to reform the jail.

It was believed that four more people had died since the cutoff date for that inquest but seeing as Archer's death was never publicized until now, it's unclear just how many people have died in recent years.

And this has been happening while the cityis in the midst of a full blown opioid crisis.In 2017,87 people diedfromopioidoverdoses in Hamiltonadeath rate72 per cent higher than the rest of Ontario.

Family says it has not been notified of inquest proceedings

Cheryl Mahyr, spokesperson for the Office for the Chief Coroner, could not immediately say how many people had died inside the facility, but said data analysts are working on tracking down those numbers.

Archer says her family wants her brother's death to be included in some form of inquest, but hasn't heard anything from the ministry or the coroner's office about that happening. A coroner's inquest is mandatory when someone dies on non-natural causes while in custody.

Mahyr said an inquest "is anticipated" in this case, but couldn't say if the family had actually been notified of that.

Eagan,who represented a family atthelocal inquest, said families are often largely kept in the dark throughout the process.

"The families are not really thought of. They're the last party that is given consideration," he said.

"Many families are left in the dark for years about what happened to their loved one."

Jason Archer was serving time for robbing a local pharmacy when he died, his sister says. A news release from Hamilton policeidentifies Archer as being charged with trafficking drugs including cocaine, hydromorphone and codeine, as well as two counts of robbery.

She says her brother "had a drug problem," but "wasn't an addict."

According to a Hamilton Spectator report from a sentencing hearing on a previous drug charge of Archer's in 2011, a pre-sentence report signified that at one point,he was consuming 15 to 20OxyContin tablets a day.

"It was very off and on throughout his life," she said. "He had a daughter. He had a life he was trying to do better."

Archer is adamant that her brother did not deserve to die this way, and says something needs to be done to fix a massive problem inside the jail.

"These are people. They are human beings and we have to treat them like human beings," she said. "Why is it taking so long to get answers and do something?"

Recommendations from delayed inquest also pushed back

Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections spokesperson Brent Ross did not respond to questions about the issues facing the jail, and the string of deaths that have happened there.

The jury at last year's inquest made dozens of recommendations on how to curb these deaths, including limiting the number of inmates allowed in a cell, possible random searches of staff and having every guard carry life-saving naloxone, which helps reverse overdoses.

The recommendations from a jury in a coroner's inquest are not legally binding,but the institution can choose to adopt them. Eagan called the entire process "toothless," and in desperate need of an overhaul.

So it's uncertain if change is coming, and even if it is, it's movingat a glacial pace. The inquest was delayed for years, before finally happening last spring.

Once the inquest wrapped, responding parties, including the ministry that oversees the jail, had six months to respond to the jury's recommendations.

Those answers were postponed another six months because the chief coroner failed to file a "verdict explanation" in a timely way. Eagan said he repeatedly wrote to the coroner's office seeking an explanation about the delay, but received no response.

"That's particularly frustrating," he said. "Somebody here was asleep at the switch."

Ross said in a previous email that the ministry received therecommendations from the coroner's officelast November, and is "in the process of reviewing and developing responses to them."

"The ministry will respond to the Office of the Chief Coroner in May," he said a full year after the jury first made its recommendations.

adam.carter@cbc.ca