Guard warned Shannon Sargent too sick to be accepted at Innes Road jail

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A guard at Ottawa’s Innes Road jail warned that a seriously ill Shannon Sargent shouldn’t be accepted at the institution, but was overruled by her superiors, jurors at the inquest into Sargent’s death were told Tuesday.

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Sargent, a 34-year-old Indigenous woman who had had open heart surgery to replace her aortic valve less than two weeks prior, was pale, out of breath and repeatedly complained that she was in pain, Correctional Officer Rhonda Winter testified Tuesday on the second day of a coroner’s inquest.

Sargent died in her cell at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre on July 20, 2016, the day after she was admitted. An inquest is mandatory because she died in custody.

Sargent was brought to the jail on July 19 by Ottawa police after she had been seen earlier that afternoon by a doctor at the Ottawa Hospital’s emergency department. She did not have with her the hospital paperwork the jail was supposed to require before accepting a prisoner. A memo warning staff not to accept prisoners who need medical attention is posted in the jail’s admission area.

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“I was told we were going to keep her,” Winter said under questioning by Kate Forget, co-counsel to presiding coroner Dr. Robert Reddoch.

“I said ‘I really don’t think this is a good idea,’ but I have to go with what my superior tells me,” Winter testified.

Winter said she had known Sargent since she began working at the OCDC in 2012 and that Sargent was a “good soul” — a talkative, co-operative and well-liked inmate. When Sargent arrived at the jail at 3:49 p.m. that day, Winter could “immediately” tell Sargent was very ill.

“She was very pale and hunched over,” Winter said. “She was out of breath and had difficulty climbing up the stairs. She told us several times, ‘I’m in a lot of pain.’”

Winter said Sargent showed her surgical incision from her sternum to her belly button and was bleeding from the rectum.

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In a suicide prevention form that is filled out for all incoming inmates, Winter wrote that Sargent was not a suicide risk. But in a comment section, Winter wrote: “I do not think she should be here.” She noted that Sargent said she had a C. difficile infection and was recovering from open heart surgery.

Sargent was eventually seen by a nurse at the jail and taken to hospital by corrections staff later that evening. But she was never seen by medical staff and was back at the jail barely an hour later. Sargent died in her cell shortly after midnight on July 20.

Winter also testified that the correctional officer tasked to take Sargent back to the hospital that night had complained that he was going on vacation the next morning and expressed “disdain” for being given the escort duty.

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“He said he wasn’t about to wait an hour at the hospital until someone relieved him,” she testified. “He was not happy about going.”

Winter said she was surprised by his attitude.

“I expressed that I was very concerned for Shannon. She should not be here at the institutions. She should be in the hospital…. I thought it was imperative that she should be there.

“I was upset. I was surprised that me showing my concern for this person was just not taken in the context that I thought it should have been,” she testified.

“It has bother me for years to know this turned out like this.”

The inquest, which is being conducted virtually over Zoom, is expected to last for 10 days. The five-person jury is charged with answering the coroner’s “five questions”: who died; when, where and how they died; and by what mean did they die, be it natural, accidental, homicide, suicide or undetermined. The jury may also make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.