A 43-year-old corrections officer at the Headingley Correctional Centre has been arrested and charged in connection to the death of an inmate that occurred in February of 2021.
On February 7, 2021, just before 7pm, Headingley RCMP responded to a report of an unresponsive male inmate at the Headingley Correctional Centre. That same evening, Manitoba RCMP Major Crime Services took carriage of the investigation.
The investigation determined that there was a prolonged standoff between Correction Officers and an inmate in a common area within Headingley Correctional Centre. The standoff ended when the facility’s Critical Emergency Response Team extracted the inmate from the area.
The inmate, identified as William Ahmo, a 45-year-old male from Sagkeeng First Nation, became unresponsive following the extraction and was transported to hospital in medical distress. On February 14, 2021, Ahmo died in hospital.
An autopsy completed by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office of Manitoba determined that William Ahmo’s death was the result of a homicide.
Following an extensive investigation by officers within Major Crime Services, a detailed investigative report was sent to the Manitoba Prosecution Service for opinion. The Manitoba Prosecution Service subsequently forwarded the investigative report to Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General for opinion.
Based on these consultations, 43-year-old Robert Jeffrey Morden from the RM of Rockwood, a corrections officer at the Headingley Correctional Centre, was arrested on January 21, 2022. Morden was charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life.
