This woman is walking to Queen's Park to try to stop more Ontario inmates from dying

The sister of an inmate who died of an apparent overdose at the London jail says she plans to walk from the front doors of the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre all the way to the provincial legislature in Toronto in an effort to force change in Ontario's provincial jail system.

We deserve accountability, we deserve answers.- Lynn Pigeau

Lynn Pigeauis anoutspoken critic of the London jail andthe sister of inmate, James Pigeau. He was discovered dead on January 7, 2018 inside his cell at EMDC where he was being kept on remand for charges of robbery and theft.

His death was the latest of13 at the provincial jail since 2009, which has one of the highest rates of inmate deaths in the country and hasbeen called "the worst in Ontario."

Not just for inmates

Since her brother died, Lynn Pigeau has been one of the key organizers of a number of rallies in support of increased safety for guards and inmates, including a series of upcoming rallies planned for next week's Juno celebrations in London.

"I want to walk from the doors ofEMDCto Queen's Park," she said Tuesday. "It's not just for the inmates, it's for the guards."

Pigeau said she wants the province to start properly screening inmates for addictions and mental health issues, to start regularly separatingviolent from non-violent prisoners inside jails, hire morecorrectional officers and give thembetter training.

Starting May 26, Pigeauplans to walk for about 10 hours a day along Highway 2over the course of her three day journey to the Toronto legislature.

"I'm not asking anyone to walk with me, but they can if they want to," she said, noting she plans to accept any donations from the families of corrections officers or families of inmates who've lost loved ones inside the provincial jail system.

Pigeau said she hopes the march will get the attention of the Progressive Conservative government under Doug Ford, who like their Liberal predecessors under Kathleen Wynne, have mostly ignored the problem of people dying while in the custody of the province.

"They need to listen. They need to know that these are families. These aren't just inmates. These are loved ones and even if these are overdoses or suicides, murders, they were still somebody's loved one," she said.

"We deserve accountability, we deserve answers."

Drive for change inspired by recent trial

The 49-year-old said what inspired her walk to Toronto was the recent trial of two former jail employees, Stephen Jurkusand Leslie Lonsbary, who were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life in the 2013 death of inmate Adam Kargus, 29.

"It's been a real eye opener about what really needs to change," she said.

Kargus, who was serving a 90-day sentence for fraud,was beaten to death by his cellmate Anthony George, a dangerous and unpredictable offender, who had been drinking potent prison-madeliquorthe night hewas locked in a cell with Kargus.

Guards did not intervene as George punched, kicked and chokedKargusto deathover the course of an hour in a frenziedbeating that was so loud, other inmates told the court they could hearKargus' screams for help on the floor below.

A jury found Jurkus not guilty in connection with his death, while Lonsbary's case was declared a mistrial.

During the trial, the jury heard about chronic overcrowding, how guards received little training and were regularly under staffed and unable to properly protect the inmates in their care.

Inmates 'jammed in cheek-by-jowl'

Kevin Egan explains how bad conditions are inside EMDC

6 years ago

Duration 1:54

Kevin Egan explains how bad conditions are inside EMDC

"There's people sleeping on the floor, double-bunking in cells, jammed in cheek-by-jowl," saidKevin Egan, a London lawyer with McKenzie-Lake, who is currently embroiled in a $325million class action lawsuit on behalf of 15,000 former inmates alleging mistreatment at the London jail.

Egan said the jail was only designed to house 150 inmates when it was built in the 1970s, but has since been retrofitted to house up to 400 or 500 inmates.

"The meanest toughest inmates are running the range, it's not the correctional officers," he said."They distribute the food and the clothing and they mete out the punishment when people don't follow their rules."

"They own the telephones, they can determine who gets to use the phones and they can take people's desserts, fruit and sugar from coffee and make their own brew on the range and all of that happens on a consistent basis," he said.

We can't stand by and do nothing.- Kevin Egan, lawyer for McKenzie-Lake

Egan said he's been fighting on behalf of guards and inmates against injustice for the last 10 years and has yet to see a provincial government make meaningful change to improve conditions at the London jail.

"At last count there's 13 inmates who've died at EMDC and all the while the government promising change and noting happening, so we need to do something or someone else is going to die."

Egan said over the course of the last 10 years he's developed a healthy skepticism about the way that provincial politicians react to the problem, but he's trying to remain optimistic about Lynn Pigeau's chances of affecting change.

"Unless we keep putting pressure on the government I can guarantee you nothing is getting done. This is a positive step," he said. "We can't stand by and do nothing."