Girlfriend of deceased inmate wants answers

Ashley Canady spoke to Matthew McCain often on the phone and communicated through letters and knew what he was going through in his time at Durham jail. About his time there, she says “he never should have been in there.”  If he had to be there, he at least should have been in the medical area where he could get constant monitoring.

She says: “We still haven’t gotten a death report. No one seems to be taking this matter seriously and it seems to have been swept under the rug.

The most important thing for me right now is to know: What happened inside the Durham County Jail?

This is not just for Matt—maybe bringing this out can save someone else’s life. I do not want another family to have to deal with what Matthew and Dennis’ family is dealing with.”

These are some of the questions Ashley wants answered:

• Where are the grievances he filed?
• His attorney was supposed to be trying to get him released back in November because he was sick. Why is she not speaking about this?
• Where is the video? Of the altercation Matt had—which left him in a really bad state, and of the morning he passed away?
• Where are the records of his commissary account? Fast as the money was put on he was calling for more, and didn’t seem to know that we had put money on.
• Why was he in a cell alone when he had epilepsy and had previous seizures in the jail?
• Who is the investigator on this case, and why is no one with the sheriff’s department or anyone associated with the jail talking with the family about what’s going on?
• Matt had a ring on his finger that wasn’t in his belongings. He traded with another inmate to get two rings (made of plastic—similar to this) for three packets of soup. He sent a ring to Ashley that had golden pieces on it. She has this ring—where is the one he was wearing?

Of Sheriff Mike Andrews, she asks: “When are you gonna walk in our shoes? How about you walk in Matthew’s daughter Kinslee’s shoes for a day?”

Regardless of everything that happened, the jail is responsible. She doesn’t like that the jail and others are stirring a rumor that Matt didn’t want to live. That is not true. He was clear as day with that:

“I don’t want to live–under these conditions,” is what he said. And he believed, prophetically, that he would not make it out of the jail alive.

Says Ashley: “A lot of questions remain unanswered and the sheriff seems not to care. I pray for everyone involved because no crime goes unnoticed and what’s done in the dark shall come to light.”