Heard shackles, scuffling noises before inmate died in cell: prisoner

A choking noise and the sound of shackles came from the St. John's cell where an inmate died last month, a fellow prisoner says.

Austin Aylward, 31, died at Her Majesty's Penitentiary on March 22. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has ruled out foul play in the death, and an autopsy could not determine its cause.

The parents of Aylward — who had been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder — have said their son suffered from acute mental illness and should have been in the Waterford psychiatric hospital in St. John's, and not the penitentiary.

Aylward, who was serving time after pleading guilty this winter to a Clarenville break-in, had also had a panic attack while in custody.

James Walsh, who was in the cell next to Aylward the night he died, told CBC News that he could not see what happened, but he heard everything.

"[There was] this deep breath, right, like somebody's choking," he said.

Walsh believes that Aylward had a panic attack while he was alone in his cell. Walsh said he screamed out to a guard at the post outside their unit. Soon, that guard was joined by others.

Walsh told CBC News he then heard a scuffle and the sound of shackles, and that Aylward was then taken out of the cell.

"When they were dragging him out, I heard him saying, 'Leave me alone, leave me alone,'" Walsh said.

"Then I heard one of the guards say, 'Stop trying to bite me, stop trying to bite me.' And then two minutes after that, I heard the guard giving him CPR."

Walsh, who believes that the guards did everything they could to help Aylward, estimates they worked on him for between 20 and 30 minutes, but that they could not revive him.

"I could see … the guards after — they were actually visibly shaken. I could see goosebumps on their arms," he said.

Walsh said that in the days leading up to his death, Aylward rarely got out of bed, did not shower and was not eating meals. He said he feels that Aylward should not have been in jail.

"I think he was a good guy — he just fell through the cracks, you know," Walsh said.

"He ended up in a bad place. He should have been in the hospital. That's where he should have been."

Days before he died, Walsh said Aylward gave him a message to relay to his parents, Pearl and Austin Aylward. Now in a halfway house, Walsh said he hopes to deliver it to the Aylwards in person.