DEAD INMATE'S MOM WANTS ANSWERS

Patricia Wigham wants an investigation into how drugs get into
jails.

When Patricia Wigham heard that her 20-year-old son had been found
dead in his cell at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre of a suspected
drug overdose on March 14, her worst fears were realized. "My body, I
felt like a quadriplegic. I had no feeling from the neck down. I was
numb," she said.

Her son, Kyle Wigham, ended up at FRCC after being sentenced to nine
months jail time on Feb. 12 for robbing a 7/11 in Chilliwack with a
crack pipe. He got away with approximately $150. It was his first
criminal offence.

Patricia was immediately fearful after he was sentenced to jail time
because "there's more drugs in there than on the street."

Now her grief is mixed with anger at the prison system that was
supposed to rehabilitate him but which he ended up dying in.

"You shouldn't have to fear about your loved ones if that's where
they're going," she said. "One month there and that's what happens?
It's wrong and somebody has to be held accountable for it."

The RCMP and the B.C. Coroner's Service are investigating Wigham's
death. Regional coroner Vince Stancato can't comment on the cause of
the death because the investigation is in the early stages. The
autopsy has been completed and he said it could take two or three
weeks before the results of the toxicological examination are known.

Lisa Lapointe, spokesperson for B.C. Corrections couldn't comment on
cause of death because of the ongoing coroner's investigation.

However, a spokesperson for the union that represents correctional
officers at FRCC, Dean Purdy, said he had heard from sources that a
drug overdose was the suspected cause of the death.

Kyle had been a heavy duty machine operator. Patricia said he loved
life and had "such an appreciation for the outdoors." He loved fishing
and hunting, country music and debating politics.

She laughed when recalling how she would never read a newspaper around
him.

"I'm not into politics and he was so into politics," she
said.

"He was well mannered, had the biggest heart in the world...He was a
ray of sunshine," she said.

Kyle leaves behind a 12-year-old sister and 17-year-old brother and
many friends and relatives who loved him, said Patricia.

He had been struggling with a crack cocaine addiction for the past two
years and had tried to get clean in rehab three times without success,
said Patricia.

When he robbed the 7/11 in Chilliwack he was on prescribed
anti-depressants, he'd been drinking and doing crack cocaine, said
Patricia.

"He said he was a walking time bomb that night," said Patricia, who
added Kyle was normally a mild-manner kid who "wouldn't hurt a flea."

Patricia was the one who turned Kyle into police after she heard what
he had done.

"I did it out of love. I didn't want to see him go down that path,"
she said. "I wanted him to get mandatory drug rehab."

Kyle wrote a letter to the clerk he had robbed apologizing for what he
did. He told Provincial Court Judge Thomas Crabtree, "I'd like to say
jail's really not the place for me."

The Crown argued for a nine-to 12-month sentence. Crabtree sentenced
him to nine months, but gave him four months credit for time served
prior to the sentencing.

Patricia describes the court's attitude as "let's just throw him away
when there are other options out there."

Once Kyle ended up in prison, it was a traumatic experience for
him.

"He was scared and he said he didn't communicate with anyone. He kept
to himself," said Patricia. "I worried every day about my child being
in there."

She's outraged that drugs are getting into prisons where addicts who
are doing time can become further entrenched in their addiction.

"It's got to stop," she said. "I want a total investigation on
this."

Patricia said she wants to know how drugs are entering the
prison.

"My concern is how are they getting in there if there's no contact
visiting and there's plexiglass between you (and the prisoner)," she
said. "Are they coming in by staff or workers? I really want to make a
stir here because I would never want to hear of any other family,
mother or siblings having to go through what I've gone through."

Stancato said after the investigation is completed the case would be
forwarded to an inquest committee that determines whether a public
inquest would be conducted. Unlike when someone dies in police custody
there's no mandatory inquest when a person dies within a correctional
facility, he said.