Stricter rules for inmate supervision needed after prison kitchen stabbing: inquest

An inquest into the death of a man who was stabbed behind barshas recommended a Manitoba-based prison improve its inmate-supervision rules in the facility's kitchen.

CosmoDamianoValente, 69,was stabbed in the abdomen while working in the facility's kitchen in June 12, 2012. He had a number of surgeries but died in hospital on June 25.

Valentewas serving a six-year sentence at Stony Mountain Institution for two counts ofcounsellingto commit murder.

ByronJacob, who was 24 at the time of the stabbing, pleaded guilty and was charged with second-degree murder in Valente's death.

• Man charged in Stony Mountainprison death
• Hearing set for inquest into 2012 death of Stony Mountain inmate Cosmo Valente

Provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie, who was in charge of reviewing the evidence,raised concerns about Stony Mountain Institution's staffing and supervision in the facility's kitchen and inmateaccess to knives.

RCMP interviewed inmates who were in the kitchen during the incident. Although none admitted to seeing what happened, one inmate said before the stabbing, Jacobplanned to "punch out" Valente because he had called him a derogatory name, the inquest report says.

"Other inmates told police that they heard someone yell 'stabbed' but claimed not to have seen what had actually occurred," the inquest reads, and an investigation found the knife in the kitchen.

Prison staff testified they weren't aware of any problems between the men before the stabbing, and the subsequent investigation found no proof of any prior issues either.

Informal kitchen supervision rules

John Potorieko, a22-year employeeand chief of food and kitchen servicesat the federal penitentiary,testified that inmates have used kitchen knives to harm themselves in the past but no one had ever turned a blade on another inmate.

Potoriekotestified at the hearing that three or four staff should've been supervising inmates that day in 2012, but there was only one presentin the kitchen at the time of the stabbing.

Stony Mountain has no standingenforcement rule on the ratio of staff to inmates in the kitchen, Potoriekosaid, but staff had an understanding that they "'would never have a person by themselves'with the inmates as 'they can't watch everything and supervise the inmates.'"

JudgeHarviewrote in the inquest report that it isn't clear whether having more staff in the kitchen area would have prevented the stabbing, but "it stands to reason that the presence of the [staff] has, generally speaking, a deterrent effect on the behaviour of the inmates."

A similar conclusion was reached regarding the absence of security cameras in the kitchen area at the time. Camerasare expected to be installed as part of future renovations.

Harvie recommended Stony Mountain create written policy and a standing order that dictates the minimum number ofprison staff that should be present in the kitchenand specific ratios of staff to inmates in the kitchen.

No changes toknife signouts

Stony Mountain had an order in placemeant to control inmate access to knives and other items in the kitchen at the time of the stabbing.

The knife used to kill Valentewas signed out appropriately, but not to Jacobs, the inquest report says. It isn't clear how Jacobsgot his hands on the knife, but investigators believe he may have grabbed it when the inmate who signed it out left it on the counter. The inquest found no evidence the inmate worked with Jacobs to get him the knife.

Prison officials considered adding tethers to kitchen knivesbutultimately decided against it, citing concerns the tethers could also be used to hurt inmates. Judge Harviedidn't recommend any changes to the way kitchen utensilsare signed out to inmates and made no other recommendations.

Apart from the recommendations about the number of guards supervising inmates in the kitchen, the inquest ultimately sided with the previous criminal investigation's findings and ruled the death ofValentewas a homicide.

"The death of Mr. Cosmo Valente was a tragic event," Harvie wrote in the conclusion of the inquest report."He died as a result of the criminal act of another inmate."