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location: publications / books / Justice Behind the Walls / Sector 2 / Chapter 4 The Life and Death of the Electric Man / The Crowns Case

Ms. Dinn, a registered nurse who worked at Kent Institution, gave evidence that when Gary Allen was brought into the Health Care Unit, he was pale but conscious. She could not feel his pulse and there was no blood pressure. She applied a pressure dressing until the ambulance arrived. Another nurse attempted intravenous but was unsuccessful. The ambulance attendants testified that when they arrived they noticed "an enormous amount of blood." It was bright red, which indicated blood from an artery. Mr. Allen was white as a ghost and "just about bled out."

Gary Allen died on February 28, 1994, six days after he was stabbed in the courtyard at Kent. Dr. Ferris, the pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified that Gary Allen died of multi-organ failure from blood loss through a stab wound in the right shoulder. The stab cut the subclavian artery, a large, high-pressure blood vessel which can bleed massively unless direct pressure is applied to the wound. From this artery, a man can "bleed out" within two to five minutes.

The Crown also called Dave Dick, the IPSO from Kent, at the request of the Defence. Mr. Dick described his interview with Gary Allen at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, leading to his memo of January 13 recommending against the admission of Gary Allen to Kent. Crown counsel, in his questioning of Mr. Dick, asked him to review the options that a prisoner would have where he has a dispute with another prisoner. Mr. Dick suggested seven options: (1) Deal with the problem himself without bringing it to staff attention. (2) Go to the chaplain or a Native elder to mediate the problem; these people are not obliged to report or document such requests. (3) Go to a staff member to ask them to intervene or mediate; most staff members will report the incident. (4) Request to see the IPSO and have him deal with it; this might attract the attention of other prisoners, unless the prisoner concocts a reasonable excuse for talking to the officer. (5) Get friends together and plan some form of direct action, which may lead to a physical confrontation. (6) Get himself removed from the population, for example, by letting himself get caught with contraband. (7) Physically confront a staff member and get himself sent to segregation. Mr. Dick expressed the opinion that a prisoner could use either option 6 or 7 and still maintain the image of a "solid con" in the eyes of other prisoners.

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