Video documents B.C. jail cell hanging
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 3:03 PM PT
CBC News
A coroner's inquest in Prince George, B.C., watched troubling video evidence of a drunken woman hanging herself in an RCMP cell, before hearing why nobody appeared to notice until it was too late.
Cheryl Ann Bouey, 42, strangled herself with the drawstring from her sweat pants in the city drunk tank after being arrested for being drunk in public outside a local bar on June 26, 2008.
The arrest report stated Bouey was "crying, staggering and depressed" when she was brought to the detachment. About an hour later she was found dead, partially hanging from the bars of her cell.
Disturbing video evidence
As the inquest into the death began on Monday, the coroner warned Bouey's mother, Geri Bouey, she might want to leave before a surveillance video of her daughter's last hour of life inside the cell was shown.
Colin Mamela holds up his wallet photo of his common-law-wife, Cheryl Ann Bouey. He says more should have been done to prevent her death inside a Prince George jail cell. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC)But her mother stayed and wept as the video showed the drunken woman trying to tie her sweat pants to the cell bars.
Later, the video showed Bouey half-hanging from the bars in a noose she made from her pant's drawstring.
Shortly afterward a guard, later identified as Roy Reznechenko, appears behind her, but then leaves. He would later testify that he went to get help, but was distracted by a ringing doorbell.
Reznechenko testified he didn't call an ambulance or press a detachment panic button right away because he thought Bouey was sleeping against the bars, saying he couldn't see the noose because of her hair and the dim lighting in the cell.
He testified he didn't realize the severity of the situation until he broke the rules and entered her cell alone. That's when he realized she had hanged herself and went for help.
Minutes later, Reznechenko reappears, shakes Bouey and tries unsuccessfully to pull her down. He leaves again, making sure to close her cell door.
Finally he returns with RCMP Const. Jane Hornoi, who cuts Bouey down. However, no one makes any attempt to resuscitate her. Hornoi would later testify that she did not bother because it was clear Bouey had been dead for some time.
Ten minutes later paramedics arrive. A pathologist at the inquest testified Bouey had been dead for several minutes by the time they arrived.
Guard, constable testify
After the video was played at the inquest, Hornoi testified that she had failed to find and remove a drawstring from Bouey's track pants during a search, which Bouey used to hang herself.
The tearful Hornoi testified that local jail cells were "unsafe and out of date" and "absolutely" needed to be replaced.
The coronor, Rodrick MacKenzie, appeared to agree, noting cells with bars are now obsolete in Canadian jails.
Reznechenko later also testified the cells were "from the dark ages," and said it was difficult for him to keep an eye on inmates at all times because he was often busy with clerical duties.
"Many times, you are distracted, " he said, noting that the video surveillance monitor was small, far away and hard to see.
On Tuesday, Reznechenko said he urged officials long ago to upgrade the cells.
"I heard no more about it," he testified.
His lawyer Jon Duncan, said the Prince George RCMP sent a letter to the City of Prince George in 2004 recommending the cells be improved, but no action was taken.
The cells are jointly operated by the RCMP and the City of Prince George, but no one from the city was immediately available to comment.
According to the Elizabeth Fry Society, Bouey was one of eight women who died in municipal jail cells in B.C. in 2008.
The inquest continues this week.
With files from Betsy Trumpener
