Melissa Chatzimanolakis’ brother Anthony died while awaiting trial at an Ontario jail late last month, marking one of the latest amongst an increasing number of inmate deaths in recent years – but Melissa says she’s refusing to let him become “a sad statistic.”
“We did everything together,” Melissa told CTV News Toronto in an interview over the phone Thursday. “He was a happy, loving, caring person.”
Paramedics were called to the jail that day after staff found an inmate unresponsive and in medical distress in his cell, the ministry said, adding it was unable to provide further details as “a number of investigations are underway.” “Although my brother made some bad decisions, he had a good heart,” Melissa said. “He would literally take the shirt off of his back to give it to somebody in need, he’d give you the last $5 in his pocket for you to go eat.”Since Anthony was jailed, Melissa said she’d been visiting him at least once a week. Although she physically travelled to the jail for the visitations, her time with Anthony was still required to be conducted virtually.
A view of a general population inmate cell is shown during a media tour of the Toronto South Detention Centre in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. deaths in Ontario jails have “risen dramatically” in recent years.By far, the most common cause of death is accidental overdose, according to the data.
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