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Inmate dies in Baffin jail

Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Mar 19/01) - Police hope autopsy results will tell them why a 33-year-old man died while in custody at the Baffin Correctional Centre last week.

Aipeelee Oshutsiaq, a carver and a resident of Cape Dorset, collapsed in his dormitory cell at approximately 10:30 a.m. March 13.

Prison staff performed first aid on the man and an ambulance was called. He was transported to the Baffin Regional Hospital where he died a short time later.

Foul play is not suspected in the incident.

RCMP Sgt. Mike O'Malley said autopsy results should be in sometime this week and that if they proved to be inconclusive, officials would probe a little further to figure out what caused Oshutsiaq to die.

"If there's nothing conclusive, they'll probably do toxicology on the blood."

Oshutsiaq was serving a six-month term in Nunavut's correctional facility. He was scheduled to be released from jail next month.