Report on inmate's death critical of lawyers

An independent review into how an inmate died in custody in St. John's more than a year ago says there is no evidence that guards at Her Majesty's Penitentiary acted inappropriately in handling the death.

However, the report by Robert Wells, a retired Supreme Court judge, did raise concern about the actions of the lawyers who handled the case.

The justice department ordered the review after Austin Aylward Jr., who had a long history of mental illness, died in March 2008, after having a seizure in his cell. The medical examiner concluded that Aylward died of natural causes.

Aylward, 31, was in prison after pleading guilty to breaking into a house in Clarenville, about 200 kilometres from St. John's.

His family argued at the time that he had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder, and should have been held at a psychiatric hospital, and not at the penitentiary.

In his report, Wells said Aylward's parents pleaded with the legal aid lawyer who was appointed to handle their sons' case not to agree to have him remanded to prison.

But Wells said Aylward didn't want to go to a hospital, and both the defence and the Crown lawyers, who knew of his history of mental health problems, felt the man understood what was happening to him.

Wells said the lawyers should have raised Aylward's history with the judge, but instead, since neither the Crown or defence mentioned Aylward's mental state in court, "pleas of guilty were accepted without question."

Wells said that evidence was crucial to his review.

"Though one cannot know how the judge may have proceeded had he known of the accused's mental illness, we do know that if had been so informed, he would certainly have directed his mind to the mental state of the accused," Wells wrote.

"Had he been told that the accused's parents were in the courtroom and of their concerns, he would have had the opportunity to explore the issue with them."

Aylward's father, Austin Sr., said the legal aid lawyer should have listened to the parents in the beginning.

"[To] just take him in handcuffs ... and put him before the judge for three minutes, without somebody being able to say, 'Hey, we'd better stop here and take a look. This young man is not in any shape to go before a judge to plead his innocence or guilt.'"

Wells made a number of recommendations in his report, including:

• A judge be informed of a mental health disorder involving someone accused of a serious crime.
• Any new penitentiary in St. John's should include a psychiatric wing.
• The St. John's mental health court should be expanded across the province.
• Someone other than accused be able to apply for a case to be handled by a mental health court.

Wells concluded that he doesn't think anyone involved with Aylward's care acted improperly or intended harm. He said he believes Aylward's problems began when he was involved in a fatal car accident at the age of 17.

Wells wrote: "From that night, until his death 13 years later, Austin Aylward's life began a downward spiral into depression and serious mental disorder ... which resulted in increasingly bizarre and, on various occasions, criminal behaviour."

Austin Aylward Sr. credits the report for being thorough, but said he will always have questions about his son's death.

"The questions I wanted answered were, well, I guess like any parent, why? Why my son?"