DEATH OF FIRST NATIONS WOMAN - Prison Guards Ignored Health Crisis

Campbell describes her daughter as an ambitious and spiritual person. “Kinew means eagle. Her name is Ke-She-Ba-Nodin-Nuke-Kinew, that means Eagle in the Whirlwind,” Campbell says.

James’ mother, Grace Campbell, says her daughter had been in good spirits during a Saturday afternoon phone call.

“We [were] talking normal, chatting and laughing," she said.

Campbell says she was shocked when the prison chaplain called on Sunday to tell her Kinew had died.

“He said, ‘I'm sorry to inform you that your daughter Kinew James has passed on.’ He said she had complained of stomach pain later on in the evening, and at the hospital she had a heart attack at one o'clock,” Campbell says.

James was born in Portage La Prairie, a small city in Manitoba. After what her lawyer, Craig Perry, described as a “tragic upbringing,” James was sent to jail at the age of 18 to serve a six-year sentence for manslaughter, arson and uttering threats. But her sentence was repeatedly extended following a number of convictions for crimes committed inside prison. At the time of her death, she had spent 15 years, four months and 29 days — nearly half her life — in prison.

Corrections Canada says it is not ready to discuss the details surrounding the weekend medical emergency and death of an inmate at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon.

Kinew James, 35, died in hospital early Sunday morning after an apparent heart attack, according to her mother who says her daughter suffered from Type 1 diabetes.

Inmates in neighbouring cells allege that guards ignored her calls for help for at least an hour, even turning off her distress alarm triggered by a button in her cell.

With her release date slated for August 2013, James told CBC News last fall that she was looking forward to life outside prison walls. Her mother says she was taking correspondence courses through Athabasca University and preparing for her new life.

“She wanted to take law,” Campbell says. “She had, I think she told me about 60 credits or something. I know she talked a lot about school, school, school, university....she was doing whatever she could so she could come out and be ready to tackle whatever she needs to do to get her education and to work.”

NOTE:

First Nations women in western Canada are disproportionately sentenced to do hard time.

This story is reminiscent of an aboriginal woman last year who ended up giving birth to a baby in her cell in Ontario, because no one believed she was really in labour.

And then, the authorities tried to keep her away from the baby.

[link to www.cbc.ca]

Last Edited by 13th-Century on 01/23/2013 07:14 PM