PROCEDURE NOT FOLLOWED BY GUARD, SAYS REPORT

Man who died of a drug overdose had been foaming at the mouth in his
cell.

The morning 20-year-old Kyle Wigham died of a heroin overdose at
Fraser Regional Correctional Centre a prison guard did a visual
inspection of his cell three times before realizing Wigham was
unresponsive even though he had foam coming out of his mouth.

That's one of the findings in a coroner's report into Wigham's
death.

The report also found that the previous guard working earlier that
morning failed to follow standard operating procedure and inspect
cells every 30 to 60 minutes. Instead, the guard conducted checks
"sporadically."

Coroner Vincent Stancato found that Wigham died on March 14, 2008 of
an accidental heroin overdose.

The report doesn't specify how long Wigham was dead before he was
discovered to be unresponsive in his cell at 8:45 a.m. A "code blue"
was called and medical staff arrived within minutes but Wigham was
dead.

Prison staff discovered the door to his cell had been taped shut from
the inside and clothes were placed over the crack at the bottom of the
door.

Wigham was in the cell with another inmate.

Staff found a crack pipe fashioned from a pen in a garbage can, a flap
with oxycodone in Wigham's roommate's pillowcase, several other empty
flaps and cut off fingers from latex gloves, which are commonly used
to transport drugs around the jail.

The coroner made two recommendations after his investigation: revise
the current criteria for determining the health of an inmate during
visual cell inspections to include observation of breathing and
consider regular retraining or testing of employees to ensure they are
aware of the standard operating procedures regarding "non-daylight
hours" visual cell inspections.

Patricia Wigham, Kyle's mother, said her son was addicted to crack
cocaine but she didn't expect him to die of an overdose while in
prison. She believes her son had never done heroin prior to his time
in jail.

"The part that gets me is that had the (prison guard) done his job, I
mean if they were checking every 30 to 60 minutes, Kyle could have
very well been alive today," said Patricia.

Wigham arrived at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on Feb. 17,
2008. It was his first time in jail. He had been sentenced to nine
months for robbing a 7-Eleven in Chilliwack with a crack pipe. He got
away with $150.

Patricia was the one who turned her son in after the 7-Eleven
robbery.

"That's what Kyle needed. To be put in rehab... but just chuck him in
a cell? That's not the answer," said Patricia.

"Not even one month after being there he's gone."

Patricia believes he should have been sent to a drug treatment
facility because it was his first offence rather than sent to jail.

"I regret every day turning him in," she said.

Patricia wants to see the prison system do a better job of preventing
drugs from getting inside. She believes staff must be smuggling drugs
inside.

"I think they can control the drugs in there. I think they're afraid
to but why can't they? And if it's coming in, it's not coming in from
the visitors because they're screened. It's coming in from the
kitchen, the workers, the staff," she said.

Patricia is disappointed that an inquest won't be held.

"I really wanted to hear from each party. I wanted to hear the whole
story," she said. "I wanted to hear what they were going to do to
change things so no other mother or sibling or family has to go
through this again."

B.C. Corrections branch has implemented changes since its critical
incident review into Wigham's death.

Susan Williams, public affairs officer with the Ministry of Public
Safety and Solicitor General, said in an e-mail the changes "focused
primarily on limiting the opportunities for contraband to get into the
correctional centres."

Searches, including searches of vehicles used to take inmates on work
crews, have been increased. Staff has also been reminded of
requirements for visual cell inspections.

Williams said the recommendation that staff make sure inmates are
breathing during visual inspections "raises security concerns."

"Compliance would require staff to enter each cell numerous times
throughout the night. Inmates would inevitably be awakened, putting
both staff and inmates at risk," said Williams.

"It should be noted that inmates are given a health care assessment,
which includes a mental health screening within 24 hours of admission.
If it suggests that more frequent monitoring is warranted, then it is
done."

Meanwhile, Patricia comforts herself that her son is in a better
place. "His suffering is done but it's unfair to all of us because we
miss him," she said. "I have my Kyle days. You don't know when it's
going to hit you. Something will trigger it. All I do is have a good
cry and then I turn it into a positive."