The Canadian Press
Related: Notorious sex offender dies in Canadian prison
AGASSIZ, B.C. — A second inmate has died after a weekend riot at Mountain Institution in B.C.'s Fraser Valley.
Corrections Service of Canada spokesman Dave Lefebvre says the inmate died of an overdose Sunday night. “Throughout the disturbance we transferred a number of individuals to hospital who were under the influence,” he said Monday. About a dozen inmates were taken to hospital.
Lefebvre couldn’t say what the inmates had taken or where they got the drugs.
“That will all be part of the investigation that is currently ongoing. We’re going to try to determine what was the cause of death of this individual as well as what caused the disturbance.”
The remaining inmates who were “under the influence” of some kind of drug are in stable condition, he said.
A homicide investigation team is investigating the beating death of 39-year-old Michael Gibbon, who was serving a sentence for child pornography and sexual offences.
Lefebvre says Corrections Services of Canada will be conducting an extensive national investigation into deaths of both inmates and into what may have set off the disturbance on Saturday.
The medium-security prison remains in lockdown.
Lefebvre said the incident started in the prison gymnasium and later spread to other parts of the prison.
Dozens of inmates of the 442 men housed in the prison were involved.
The weekend incident was the latest in a series of problems at the prison.
The prison was locked down and visits cancelled in January after food services staff discovered blades from two kitchen knives had been snapped off and were missing.
Copyright 2008 The Canadian Press