CBC, Global News, CTV and others are reporting that a man died in RCMP custody in Turtleford, Sask on Wednesday July 29th, after being in cells for around 90 minutes.
The Serious Incident Response Team will have conduct of the investigation into the events, but the scope will be limited to what should have been done, and whether any criminal offences occurred, and will most likely not touch on what could have been done.
For over 150 years the standard has been the same, look at the prisoner every 15 minutes. The guard or police officer watching the prisoner is not required to have any special medical training beyond standard first aid. In 2026 this standard is no longer good enough.
Since March 2024 Regina Police service has deployed a non-contact non-intrusive biometric monitoring system that uses ultra-wideband radar to monitor a prisoner’s heart rate and respiration rate. Surrey Police started installing their system in March of 2025. In Regina the system first successfully activated, potentially saving a life, within the first week of being installed, and has activated many times since. Many prisoners received earlier medical care then they would have without the system, and in at least one case it definitively saved the life of a prisoner who had previously been treated and released from hospital due to a stab wound with undetected complications.
In April of 2025 PolicyTalk Canada briefed RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, Senior Deputy Commissioner Bryan Larkin, and Deputy Commissioner Marie-Claude Dandenault on the technology.
Commercial productions are available from Xandar Kardian and a made-in-Canada system is under development by the University of Ottawa.
PolicyTalk Canada Inc. is calling on the RCMP and Federal government to create new standards for police cells and adopt the use of biometric monitoring to ensure prisoner safety while in custody.
Further Links and Reading
- https://correctionalnews.com/2022/08/17/radar-based-sensor-saves-life-of-hong-kong-inmate/
- https://www.corrections1.com/correctional-healthcare/inmate-health-monitoring-advance-helps-stop-emergencies-faster
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-police-install-technology-detect-breathing-heart-rates-custody-1.7198886
- https://www.reginapolice.ca/2024/05/08/biometric-health-monitoring-in-the-regina-police-service-detention-facility/
- https://www.ctvnews.ca/regina/article/regina-police-pleased-with-biometric-monitoring-program-claim-5-lives-saved-as-a-result/
- https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article281720598.html
- https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2025/04/22/lmdc-new-technology
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U95l1QLkd1Q&ab_channel=WBRC6News
- https://lakechelannow.com/jail-to-install-high-tech-medical-sensors-in-some-cells/