Boucher report filed

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A report into the suicide death of Edmonton Institution inmate William Boucher has been handed down to the Attorney General's Department by Provincial Court Judge J.D. Abbott.

In his report, Judge Abbott outlined the circumstances of Boucher's death and made recommendations for the prevention of similar deaths.

The recommendation included that the institution install closed circuit electronic cameras with audio monitoring capabilities in the health care unit so that nurses and other health care staff may better watch inmates while they are in their health unit cells.

Abbott also recommended that drugs given at the institution be carefully monitored and that they be used as treatment on a last resort basis.

Gary Boucher, brother of the suicide victim says that the report is totally unacceptable, and that on a variety of grounds he will pursue a liability suit against the Correctional Service of Canada. He says "the Correctional Service of Canada is evading their responsibility of my brother's death. He further added that the "treatment that my brother received at the hands of the CSC is common and consistent with the treatment that most Native people receive when they are in the federal penitentiary and provincial correctional centres."

William Boucher, 25, hanged himself in the Health Care Unit of the Maximum Security Edmonton Institution on April 22, 1985. He had been receiving, what was described as unethically large dosages of drugs form three different doctors in the institution. Boucher had been transferred from the segregation unit to the health care unit, where he was being held for his own protection.