Weeks before he died, Seamus Flynn made formal complaint about alleged prison assault
CBC
Seamus Flynn said he had four teeth left, because the rest of them had been knocked out.
The 35-year-old inmate called CBC News on Nov. 21. He was insistent — he and other inmates on unit 3B at Her Majesty's Penitentiary (HMP) in St. John's were beaten unnecessarily by prison guards the month before.
His story was backed up by another inmate who was on the same range, who said Flynn got the worst of it.
"If I was smaller, they would have killed me," said Flynn, speaking from a payphone. "It was far beyond any street fight."
According to multiple sources, including family members, Flynn died on the first weekend in December.
The Department of Justice and Public Safety has confirmed that a man died on Dec. 2 after being taken to the hospital from HMP.
Officials have not released a cause of death. There is no indication that injuries Flynn allegedly sustained two months ago played any role.
Fellow inmates are calling for a full investigation into the events of Oct. 11, and the care Flynn received in the ensuing weeks before he died.
Flynn told CBC News he was playing PlayStation in his allotted time slot when the trouble began. It was just before lunch, Flynn said, and a correctional officer told a younger inmate he had to move to a different area of the prison to make way for someone else.
"He was just a kid and frightened," Flynn said.
As an act of defiance, the inmates refused to lock in their cells. This, Flynn admitted, was when younger inmates took things too far, by pouring a half litre of soap on the floor. Another inmate took a piece of wood from their cell.
"It looked serious," Flynn said.
Flynn said he had no interest in getting institutional charges, and wanted to defuse the situation. He said he cleaned up the soap and put the piece of wood at the entrance of the unit for correctional officers to get when they entered the unit.
He said things had settled down when, hours later, the prison's emergency response team, clothed in riot gear and holding shields, entered the unit.