Jail staff knew Tasered man was mentally ill, relative says

To view this article published in the March 12th edition of The Chronicle Herald, click here.

Quoting from the article:

Liberal justice critic Michel Samson said justice officials need to act now to prevent prisoners like Mr. Hyde from dying in custody.

According to documents released to the Hyde family, doctors wanted Mr. Hyde in hospital.

"How could (that) be overlooked?" Mr. Samson said.

"Somewhere along the way, information wasn’t shared and medical advice was not followed," Mr. Samson [ said. "The minister should be calling for a review so he has all the facts in front of him and has a full understanding of why the doctor’s advice was ignored. He has a responsibility to ensure everything is done to prevent this tragedy from happening again."

Mr. Samson is worried about any appearance of bias against the mentally ill in the legal system.

"The real fear is that our justice system continues to not give appropriate consideration, not only to all accused, but certainly to accused who suffer from a mental illness," he said.

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