Edmonton Remand Centre inmates at risk with ‘inadequate’ mental health care, fatality report finds [Video]

WARNING: This story discusses suicide and suicidal ideation.

Mental health resources in the Edmonton Remand Centre (ERC) are “completely inadequate” and inmates are at risk without more specialized staff, an Alberta judge says.

After a fatality inquiry into the death of Jonathan Anderson, Justice Marilena Carminati concluded the jail isn’t equipped to deal with the volume of inmates who might be depressed or suicidal.

Anderson died in hospital on March 14, 2020, nine days after remand centre guards found him without a pulse in his cell after a suicide attempt. He’d been in custody since January, and had asked to see a psychologist and get medication, but didn’t receive treatment.

“Mr. Anderson killed himself less than a month after he unsuccessfully sought help for depression from [Alberta Health Services] at ERC,” Carminati wrote in her recommendations, issued last month.

“Unless staffing levels for mental health services at ERC are increased, similar deaths are likely to occur in the future.”

Fatality inquiries are …