Jason McKay dies in Saskatchewan Penitentiary: Correctional Service of Canada

Two weeks after receiving a life sentence for killing his wife in 2017, Jason McKay has died in custody at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

A Regina man sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty in his wife’s 2017 death has died in the Saskatchewan Penitentiary.

According to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the inmate was 54 years old at the time of his death. His next of kin have been notified.

“As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances. CSC policy requires that the police and the coroner be notified,” CSC said in a brief statement.

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McKay was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years on Feb. 24 after entering a guilty plea to second degree murder in the death of his wife, Jenny McKay. The plea came only days before a second trial was set to begin, the result of a successful appeal that overturned a 2020 conviction and sentence.

Jenny was murdered in September 2017 in her home on the 200 block of Angus Street.

According to an agreed statement of facts, sometime between the late hours of Sept. 5 and the early morning of Sept. 6, McKay attacked Jenny with a knife.

He ultimately stabbed her 24 times, using multiple knives, with some wounds made post mortem.

Jenny was 33 at the time of her death.

McKay had been in prison since his arrest in September 2017.

-With files from Mick Favel and Donovan Maess