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In council’s domainAid. John Kelleher made an honest attempt to put something on the city agenda that deserves to be there.Unfortunately, not enough of his fellow city councillors agreed that pressuring the province to call an inquest into the death of a mental patient was in their bailiwick.The problem with that logic is that city council is forgetting the Brandon Mental Health Centre is a large institution within the corporate city limits of the City of Brandon.City council got excited this past year over events at Brandon University and decided it would call for an inquiry into its administration.It’s hard to understand why city council members see no need to be concerned when an incident at BMHC this summer had possible implications for public safety.It seems clear that city council would get extremely upset if the police or Brandon Correctional Institute neglected to warn Brandon residents if an escaper considered dangerous was on the loose.So the fact that BMHC houses those considered criminally insane and that one of those persons, Keith HerbertFlannery, went missing from the centre in early July and no warning was sounded is a matter of concern.BMHC officials did notify the RCMP and it was up to this police force to decide whether Flannery posed a threat and whether the public should be warned.Neither the RCMP nor BMHC has ever officially acknowledged it was Flannery who had escaped BMHC custody and was subsequently found drowned in the Assini-boine River. The Pipestone resident was commited to “strict custody” at the mental institution after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering his father and nephew.An inquest might be able to better establish what guidelines should be followed when a possibly dangerous patient escapes. An inquest would also serve to examine the question of security at BMHC if this hospital is to continue service as an institution where the criminally insane are held.These are questions which concern public safety in Brandon. These are questions that concern city council.
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Aug 09, 1984
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Tyler M.
NA, NA 19 Feb 2025
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