An inmate's 'chilling' memory of a Halifax jail death raises questions on cell checks

The interior of a cell is seen reflected in a steel mirror during a media tour of renovations at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Halifax on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX — Warning: This article contains references to suicide

Richard MacInnis lives with the haunting memory of finding his friend’s body in a Halifax jail cell.

That experience at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Jan. 15, 2024, convinced the former inmate more could have been done to save Richard Murray, a 60-year-old man he’d “looked out for” for months — and whom he’d helped save from a prior suicide attempt.

In a recent interview, MacInnis said that on the day he found the body, he noticed that Murray had tied a bedsheet across the room, partially obscuring a view through the cell window of the spot where he had hanged himself with a strip of cloth.

The scene has left MacInnis wondering why a correctional officer hadn’t spotted the sheet — guards are supposed to peer through cell windows every 30 minutes to check on inmates. “They (correctional officers) would have seen a bedsheet up and you would have seen his feet hanging underneath it,” said MacInnis, who is now out of jail and working in Halifax.

“Their protocol is to see a live, breathing body. That’s why they check on us,” he said. “He (Murray) wasn’t even in the bed .... He was at the front of the bed with the bedsheet in front of him (obscuring the view).”

The provincial Justice Department declined to provide an interview with the jail superintendent, saying the matter is before the courts in civil litigation launched by Murray’s family. It also declined to answer questions about the standard operating procedures when correctional officers are doing rounds.

However, a source with knowledge of the rules in the provincial jails, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said the expectation for guards is that they “check to see (inmates) are OK, every 30 minutes.”

The other key observation MacInnis made was on the condition of the body. MacInnis said Murray’s body was in rigor mortis, “a clear indicator” his friend had died at least several hours before he encountered him. The autopsy report by the medical examiner, provided to the family, doesn’t provide a specific time of death.

It notes that Murray was last seen alive at 10 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2024, and was found by MacInnis and another inmate when they delivered food at 10:50 a.m. the next day — a period of 13 hours.

Murray’s family members say they were grateful to receive a letter from MacInnis last summer with details of the death.

Dalton Murray, the son of Richard Murray, said in an interview Thursday that “the letter Richard (MacInnis) wrote to us is very important because otherwise we would have never known all the detail. We know now that my father was lying there for a lengthy amount of time before someone found him. We’d heard none of this from jail officials.”

MacInnis also told the family there were clear warning signs about Murray’s deteriorating condition and the risks of suicide.

“The night before Richard (hanged) himself, he spoke to a correctional officer and told him he was feeling suicidal,” MacInnis wrote in his June 30, 2024, letter to Dalton Murray. MacInnis also wrote that Richard Murray had been taken for an assessment at the health unit on Jan. 14, 2024, and then returned to his unit that night.

These details are similar to the province’s statement of defence, provided to the court last fall in response to the family’s lawsuit. The statement says a correctional officer on Jan. 14, 2024, had seen a letter Murray had written to his wife expressing suicidal ideas, and reported it to the health section of the jail. Murray was sent for an assessment just before dinner and then returned several hours later to his cell, “with no special watch precautions,” says the legal document.

That night, MacInnis said, his friend should have been on a special watch, rather than left in the cell, where he said correctional officers often “just breeze by” their windows.

For MacInnis, Murray’s death is particularly tragic in that he shares the family’s belief the man should never have been incarcerated at all.

At the time of his death, the resident of Antigonish, N.S., had been awaiting trial for nine months after his arrest on charges of pointing a firearm at police, and uttering threats at his home — charges he’d said in letters to his wife he intended to vigorously contest.

Murray’s defence lawyer has told The Canadian Press that the charges came as a result of an incident in which police were called to his home for a wellness check. Murray — who had just returned home after a stay in hospital for mental health conditions — was alone in his home and held up a shotgun in the belief that someone was breaking in.

MacInnis observed that his friend’s condition deteriorated during those nine months, particularly during the long periods of time inmates spent in their cells due to staffing shortfalls. According to the department’s statement of defence, Murray had attempted to kill himself on May 31, 2023.

“You didn’t know if you were getting out — morning, noon or night — and Richard had mental health issues to begin with,” recalled MacInnis.

In its statement of defence in the civil lawsuit, the province denied most of the family’s allegations of neglecting their duty of care, including that the jail failed to “monitor and supervise” Murray. The document says due to patient confidentiality, corrections staff weren’t told the reasons Murray was sent back to his cell.

But MacInnis said the public and the family deserve more answers about the death in order to prevent future cases of what he refers to as “neglect.”

“Richard Murray was a nice guy. I looked out for him . … It was heartbreaking," he said.

“It was first body I ever found. It was pretty chilling.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.

By Michael Tutton

If you or someone you know is in crisis, here are some resources that are available.

Canada Suicide Prevention Helpline (1-833-456-4566)

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (1 800 463-2338)

Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566 or text 45645)

Kids Help Phone [phone])

If you need immediate assistance call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.