An official Correctional Service Canada (CSC) report, released Friday, detailed the findings of an investigation into the death of Robert Pickton and provided three recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents from happening in the future.
Pickton was attacked on May 19, 2024, by another inmate while he was incarcerated at the Port Cartier Institution. According to the report, he was assaulted by another inmate as medication was being distributed. A CO called for help from other COs, and they were able to stop the aggressor.
A couple minutes later, the aggressor broke the handle off a broomstick and thrust it into Pickton’s face. COs handcuffed the aggressor and took him to another unit.
He was taken to hospital, where he died 12 days later on May 31.
The first recommendation in the report is to secure the doors of cleaners’ storerooms to control access to cleaning supplies. The second is to provide Correction Officers (COs) with better resources to share information with other staff, and the third relates to notification of next of kin when an inmate dies while incarcerated.
Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
He was arrested in 2002, after an investigation centered around the disappearance of dozens of vulnerable women, particularly from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
He was initially charged in the deaths of 27 women, but 21 of the counts were stayed and never made it to trial.
CSC says it is required, by law, to investigate all incidents where an inmate dies in its care.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Maria Vinca