‘Does nobody care?’ Family looking for answers in death at Barton Street jail

It was dark and snowing on Christmas Eve 2020 when Kylee Rogers pulled up in her car outside Maplehurst Correctional Complex.

As she sat waiting outside the Milton jail, she watched prisoners being released from the doors - many with no belongings, not dressed for cold and no one waiting for them. They simply walked out into the night.

They may as well have been waiting at the other door to let them back in," she says.

Finally, she spotted her brother.

Zakery Rogers came out wearing corduroy pants that barely fit, a zip-up sweater with no shirt underneath and the blue, jail-issued shoes Zak jokingly called jail force ones." They hugged and wept.

Inside the car, she immediately asked about his prescriptions. As a registered nurse, she knew they were key to keeping him on track while out on bail. While in jail - first at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre - the 26-year-old had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and manic depression. He was doing well and that's why she offered to be his surety and bail him out.

Zak told her that he wasn't allowed to take prescriptions with him, but was promised they would be faxed to the pharmacy he chose - Samy's Drug Mart on Barton Street East.

That's not what happened.

The next few days would see Zak spiral. Just over a month after being released, Zak was arrested again and died in his Hamilton jail cell.

At first Kylee believed he died of an overdose - and there was almost some peace in thinking he perhaps drifted off without suffering. But since his January 2021 death, she's learned the truth is not so clear.

Zak's cause of death was inconclusive. And Kylee is left with questions about her brother's treatment. She is speaking publicly because her family doesn't want others to go through what they have.

It seems Zak was set up to fail, she says.

As a little boy, Zak would walk along the side of the road collecting any scraps he could find.

One man's junk is another man's treasure," he would say. Zak would take that trash and transform it, even as he grew into an adult, including repairing the body of his truck using an old stove.

Kylee was six years older than Zak, the only boy in the family that included two older sisters and one younger. He was adventurous, mischievous, always exploring. She can still picture his chubby cheeks and face pressed into the glass of the window waiting for Kylee and their sister Haley to come home from school.

He was artistic, hard-working and loved animals - one time as a boy he rescued" a baby bird only to find it didn't need rescuing and came screaming home on his bike being chased by the mama bird.

But the family also moved around a lot and was dysfunctional," she says.

Going through photos for his memorial, Kylee says she was struck by how happy he looked as a boy, only to see that smile fade in images once he reached Grade 6 or 7.

He wasn't a happy kid anymore," she says. The life had gone out of his face."

When Kylee was 18, she had her first child, a boy, who was sick. He died at 15 months and Zak, then a young teen, took it hard.

When Zak was 18, his best friend Aaron died of an overdose. They had used drugs together before and Kylee says her brother felt he let Aaron down. The same week, Aaron's brother and friends were out celebrating his life when they got into a car crash and three of them, including Aaron's brother were killed. Zak was supposed to be with them and carried guilt, a feeling that it should have been him. Kylee later named her son Aaron in the young man's memory.

Zak would hallucinate; one time family had to hold him from jumping off a roof. They would take him to hospital, only to have him released 72 hours later.

Then he met Tesla, the love of his life." She had two girls he raised as his own and they had a daughter together, Rosalie. His daughters were his world. Kylee says her brother wanted to give his kids the childhood he never had.

Despite that love, his mental health and drug use got worse. He turned to harder drugs, including heroin, and found himself alone.

He ended up on the streets very quickly," Kylee says.

He would steal to feed his addiction. In early 2020, he was arrested in connection with a string of armed convenience store robberies.

But while he was at Hamilton's Barton Street jail, he saw a psychiatrist and was diagnosed. He was transferred to Maplehurst. When he first landed in jail, his phone calls were mostly self-pity and asking for money, but that changed. He started asking about Kylee's kids and his girls. He was taking anger management and church classes.

So Kylee decided to try to get him out on bail. The bail hearing didn't happen until Christmas Eve 2020. The judge said Zak was at a high risk of reoffending, but Kylee was a strong surety who believed she could keep her brother on track. He was granted bail.

The morning after being released, he got up to celebrate Christmas with Kylee and her family. His own kids were coming over later. Kylee and Zak were keen to get to the pharmacy early. But when they got there, there was no prescription.

Staff at the pharmacy, who knew Zak, called the jail. Zak called the jail. They were told the staff who had been working the night before weren't there, he would have to wait until after the holidays. Kylee called the health unit at the jail and claims the nurse who answered the phone said not an inmate anymore, not my problem." The only prescription they were able to sort out was methadone for his addiction because he had been prescribed that before going into jail.

They couldn't get in to see a doctor because of the holidays and Zak didn't want to go to hospital, as this was around the height of COVID.

Back at home, it didn't take long for things to unravel. Zak became anxious. One night, he woke her because he was paranoid someone was breaking into her backyard. There was no one there.

In the last conversation they had, Zak was crying. He told Kylee he didn't know why she cared - he was a loser. She tried to tell him he was worth it, that he had so much life ahead of him. She believed if they could just get though a few more days before seeing a doctor, she could prop him up to get a job and have regular access to his kids.

I had planned out his whole life for three years," she says.

On Dec. 31, he ran away. He didn't take a coat or the phone Kylee was letting him use. He left behind his beloved rosary. She called police. Officers, including the bail compliance unit, looked for him. Kylee spent weeks searching for him.

Not long after Zak fled, on Jan. 5, a friend of his was killed in a police shooting in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Kylee believes her brother heard about his friend's death, and wonders if it contributed to what happened next.

On Jan. 28, she was told he had been arrested. The charges were serious. He was in a stolen car and rammed into police cruisers.

Kylee was relieved. It meant he could get back on his medication.

On Jan. 31, she was at work when her cellphone rang. Zak was dead.

What follows is based on information from the coroner, and files from Hamilton General Hospital and the jail. The Spectator has viewed hospital records, the autopsy report and other documents collected by Kylee.

The day after his arrest, Zak was found without vital signs in his cell and was taken to hospital. It was treated as a suspected overdose. Zak was resuscitated. No one called family.

According to medical records, a doctor recommended further monitoring and testing, including a CT scan, and monitoring for 24 to 48 hours. But he was discharged by a different doctor on Jan. 31. The medical records show he was alert and walking when released. But Kylee, a nurse, thinks he should have been kept in hospital longer.

According to a report from the coroner, the hospital did not send notes to the jail outlining the rationale for discharging Zak. No drugs were found hidden in his body during a hospital exam. But back at jail, Zak consented to a body scan and the results were unclear. He was placed in isolation - a dry cell - where staff monitor inmates suspected of hiding contraband. He was not placed in a medical unit.

Video reviewed by the coroner showed Zak appeared sluggish" when he got up to get his meal. Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., he was checked and appeared to be asleep. On the final check, he was found without vitals.

He was pronounced dead at Hamilton General Hospital at 6:34 p.m.

Autopsy results showed he had low levels of drugs in his system when he died. He also had enlarged ventricles and a rare genetic condition. He had a lung infection. There were no signs of trauma on his body. The cause of death is unascertained." Complications from drug intoxication on Jan. 29 were considered a possible cause of death.

Kylee believes the hospital was too quick to discharge her brother, perhaps because he was an inmate. She wonders whether he could have been revived if jail staff had kept a closer watch.

You start to think, Does nobody care?'" she says.

Neither the hospital, nor the Ministry of the Solicitor General, which oversees provincial jails, said they could comment on this case due to privacy reasons and because of a pending inquest.

In response to questions about whether patients who are inmates are treated differently, Hamilton General Hospital spokesperson Wendy Stewart says: All patients are provided with the care they need while in hospital."

The ministry takes its responsibility to ensure the safety and security of those in its custody very seriously," says Ministry of the Solicitor General spokesperson Andrew Morrison, adding that correctional staff are trained to provide emergency medical care.

Correctional staff help inmates plan for release, including connecting with outside agencies and supports, he says. Inmates may be provided a limited supply of medication at the time of discharge, or a prescription may be sent to a pharmacy. The ministry would not comment on why that didn't happen in Zak's case.

Morrison says that is a decision made between the inmate and medical staff.

The ministry does not interfere with medical decisions or direct health-care professionals regarding an individual's health care," he says.

If an inmate dies in custody, the Office of the Chief Coroner conducts a death investigation. If the death is not from natural causes an inquest is mandatory.

Documents shared with The Spectator show an inquest is required in Zak's case. Coroner's inquests aim to answer why and how someone died and juries can make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future. However, there is a significant backlog in inquests in Ontario and this case is likely years away.

Since it happened, Kylee has been fighting to get answers about how her brother was treated. She complained to the College of Nurses of Ontario, but it could not identify the nurse that rebuked her efforts to get a prescription, so the complaint was closed. She's filed access-to-information requests with the jails, but has only been granted partial records from Hamilton and none from Maplehurst.

For myself and my family, the most important thing we want is for people with mental illness and a history of drug abuse to be treated as people, and given the same care and respect as that of anyone else requiring care," she says. Especially by these institutions that are meant to keep them safe."

Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com