JAIL GUARD DEAD A DAY AFTER ARREST

A Hamilton corrections officer arrested at work for allegedly
trafficking drugs at the jail was found fatally injured in a farmer's
field the next morning.

Jess Steven Potter, a 28-year veteran who had spent his entire career
at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, was arrested Thursday,
according to a source close to the situation. On Friday, soon after he
was reported missing to police, he was found barely alive with his
vehicle in a field in Norfolk County. He died soon after in hospital.

The source says that after Potter was processed by police on Thursday,
he briefly returned to the jail to collect his belongings because he
was being suspended from his duties there as a result of his arrest.
He refused any help from co-workers and told them he was going home.

But he never did go home.

Hamilton Police spokesperson Catherine Martin confirms officers
arrested a "54-year-old corrections officer" Thursday for trafficking
and benefitting from the proceeds of crime. He was released on a
promise to appear and is "now deceased."

She would not name the accused because the charges against him had not
yet been sworn to in court.

Haldimand OPP spokesperson Const. Mark Foster says early Friday
morning his detachment received a report that Jess Potter was missing.
Soon after that, OPP at the Norfolk detachment discovered Potter in a
field, barely alive.

"No foul play is suspected," says Foster.

Norfolk OPP spokesperson Const. Kari Lee says Potter's death is not
being treated as suspicious by police.

The regional coroner's office says it has an "open and ongoing
investigation" into Potter's death.

A death notice in Monday's Spectator says Potter died at Hamilton
General Hospital surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife,
Michele and his children Daniel and Steven. He also had four
grandchildren.

His family could not be reached for comment.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services refuses to
say if it is investigating allegations that Potter was smuggling drugs
into its facility.

Spokesperson Tony Brown said there is a ministry policy that says
internal investigations are to be launched when a staff member is
accused of a drug offence related to the job. But he would not confirm
an investigation will look into allegations against Potter.

The matter "relates to a particular employee and we do not disclose
personal employment information," he says. He then adds that the
policy will be "followed closely."

Brown was asked for a copy of the ministry policy regarding drug
smuggling allegations against staff, but he did not provide it to The
Spectator. He also did not provide statistics The Spec requested about
CO's smuggling or "muling" drugs into provincial facilities. The union
president at the jail also refused to discuss Potter or the
allegations.

"Everyone's very testy right now," said Tina Les.

Eddy Almeida, a former CO at Barton Street and now ministry-employee
relations chair for OPSEU, says the provincial union office has no
comment on Potter's death or arrest.

"We understand there is an investigation ongoing by police and
potentially by management."

In 2008, a part-time corrections officer named Derek Brown pleaded
guilty to accepting a bribe to smuggle marijuana into the Barton
Street jail. His lawyer said Brown felt intimidated by inmates who
wanted him to smuggle in the drugs. Police said at the time that
marijuana sells for six times its street value inside the jail.