AJAs 2024 Finalists
Death in Custody
| Slug/Label | Death-In-Custody |
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| Date Aired or Published | Feb. 19, July 24, 2024 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | The Canadian Press |
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| Location: | Halifax |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: Over an 18-month period, from the beginning of 2023 until the spring of 2024, six people died while in Nova Scotia’s provincial jails -- an abnormally high rate. The province releases only bare-bones information about such deaths, refusing to provide any details about the causes, other than to indicate they aren’t from natural causes. Undeterred, Michael Tutton used letters from the inmates and family interviews to tell the stories of two suicides inside what one inmate called “four walls of hell.” In addition to putting a human face on the tragedies, his stories clarified how the system’s overcrowding and staff shortages deepened prisoners’ despair and mental illnesses. In the case of Richard Murray’s Jan. 15, 2024 death, Tutton tracked down his identity in an obituary and through sources in the prison system, then found family members through social media. When Murray’s son mentioned that he had letters from his father, Tutton asked to see them and used the inmate’s written testimony to document how his growing distress was linked to lengthy lockdowns that had plagued the provincial system. Tutton also used family accounts to raise questions about whether Murray should even have been in jail. In the story of Christopher Young’s April 26, 2024 death at the same jail, Tutton again went through obituaries and used contacts in the system to verify his identity. Gerry Young, Christopher’s father, granted an interview and described how he believed his son should have been more carefully monitored, given earlier suicide attempts. The tightly written pieces, designed for use by CP clients across Canada, wove in the context of how a judge had ordered an end to the lockdowns and described calls from advocacy groups for change. These stories are vital in a province that lacks an inquest system to tell the stories of how people die in prisons. Tutton has stayed on the beat in 2025, recently uncovering details about Murray’s death. He interviewed an inmate who described how correctional officers -- if they had carried out required half-hourly checks -- could have spotted a sheet Murray set up to obscure the view of his cell. |
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Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: These are stories that Tutton completed by carving out time amid the usual duties of a reporter in the CP Halifax bureau, where daily stories are prepared by a small staff for digital, print and broadcast clients. |
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