Parents of the man who died at Barton st jail blame the lack of immediate medical attention

On Thursday night, paramedics rushed to the Barton street jail and pronounced a 23 year old dead. His parents say his death could have been avoided if he was provided proper medical attention but they allege multiple agencies including Hamilton police and the jail denied that care. According to Brennan Bowley’s parents, an autopsy concluded that their son died of an accidental drug overdose.

Bowley’s death occurred nearly 48 hours after his arrest inside the detention centre, but Bowley’s mother Tamara says her son first asked for help when he was at the police station.

“He was held at Central. His friend was in another holding cell and could hear him saying that he wanted medical attention and was being denied.”

Tamara believes her son was hiding a package of cocaine inside his body, she suspects it started to leak.

“He was asking for help, it was burning inside of him. The kid that got arrested with him said he was saying my stomach is burning, I want to go to the hospital and they were telling him no.”

Today police say they are unaware of any allegations of misconduct in this case.

Tamara says her son was also seen vomiting at the courthouse and when she called the jail to ask about his medical care she was told her son was fine. Hours later Tamara says her son was pronounced dead.

When asked for a statement on this case, the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services expressed her condolences and said in part: “I know that there is still a lot of work to do to improve our correctional system.”

While Marie France Lalonde wouldn’t comment on specifics of this case, she says they are: “Exploring options to move responsibility for health care to the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care” in order to improve conditions for those in custody.

According to the coroner’s office, this case will not be added to the April inquest into 8 drug related deaths at the Barton jail between 2012 and 2016. If the cause of death in Bowley’s case was truly an overdose, there will be a mandatory inquest.