An inquest into the death of Curtis McKenzie at the Sask. Pen. in 2020 has begun. (Facebook)

By Susan McNeil

Curtis McKenzie Inquest

‘It was screamingly obvious that he needed help’: Inquest hears details of inmate’s days before death

Oct 31, 2022 | 5:00 PM

CONTENT WARNING: The following story contains graphic depictions of self-harm and suicide.

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About a day before he hanged himself in a cell door at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary two years ago, Curtis McKenzie cut off what remained of his nose.

The fact that he was not hospitalized long-term and back on the mental health range within a day shocked what may have been his only friend, William Loney.

“What he had done to himself was just drastic, horrendous. To take off the rest of your nose, my God, how horrible do you have to feel to do that? He obviously needed more help than he could get in 24 hours,” Loney said during an inquest into McKenzie’s death that started this morning.

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There were other signs of McKenzie struggling with his mental health in the weeks before he died.

Loney said he knew McKenzie for about 15 years and said he was a quiet, reserved person who would talk to people he knew, but not anybody else.

“He was depressed. He would tell me when he was depressed and he just didn’t have the will to live anymore,” Loney said.

The pair did not talk much about the first time McKenzie disfigured his nose, which happened about eight years prior to his death.

“You could tell he was very obviously self-conscious about it and somewhat regretful,” Loney said.

McKenzie talked about suicide about two weeks before he died, which Loney immediately reported to mental health staff at the prison, saying he was genuinely concerned about his friend’s wellbeing.

Loney said around late afternoon on February 25, after the inmate workday was done and multiple prisoners were bantering and playing cards, McKenzie walked into his nearby cell. He came out shortly afterwards covered in blood and “had cut off the rest of it,” Loney said.

McKenzie was taken away for medical help but returned much quicker than Loney expected.

His cell was much further down the range than McKenzie’s but he knew when his friend was returned the next day in the regular lockdown time after lunch when he heard other inmates greet him by name.

It was in the time following when the prisoners could no longer get McKenzie to respond to greetings, that caused Loney to be suspicious.

“It was screamingly obvious that he needed help,” he said.

The next day after the doors were opened, Loney and two other inmates immediately went to McKenzie’s cell to check on him and found him hanging by his neck in the door of his cell.

McKenzie was found on February 26 and pronounced dead at Victoria Hospital on March 9.

Loney said despite the mental health designation of the prison unit, he saw what he thought were obvious issues.

Medicines given out for depression are abruptly cut off if staff suspected inmates are “diverting” them, which can range from selling them to other inmates or snorting them, he said.

He also noted that while inmates could put in a request for mental help if they felt it was needed, not all of them would do so. In fact, with the lack of trust between prisoners and staff, very few would.

In his opinion, there needs to be more staff, more access to psychiatric care and he said the range was “mental health in name only.”

It is operated as a mental health unit that is calmer, with sunlight coming in the windows at times and only 26 or 27 individual cells but at times there is no help available, Loney said.

Loney did not blame the staff, saying he thought they might be overwhelmed by the volume or the nature of the challenges they face.

McKenzie was about two months from being released when he died, another source of stress for inmates who may not have a place to go or money to live on when they are released.

Loney was the first of 27 planned witnesses at the inquest, which is scheduled for the remainder of this week.

He is incarcerated for the murders of Patrick Flynn and Clara Ashton in Regina in 2003.

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If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of self-harm or experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact:

Canada Suicide Prevention Service (1-833-456-4566), Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service (306-933-6200), Prince Albert Mobile Crisis Unit (306-764-1011), Regina Mobile Crisis Services (306-525-5333) or the Hope for Wellness Help Line, which provides culturally competent crisis intervention counseling support for Indigenous peoples at (1-855-242-3310).

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com