An inmate who killed himself at London’s jail had complained about being assaulted and having his medication stolen and denied, The Free Press has learned.

Family members declined to talk Friday, but several sources confirmed the identity of the inmate at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) who died after being found hanging in his segregation cell Monday.

The Free Press has decided not to publish the man’s name at this time.

According to his Facebook profile, the 30-year-old man graduated from a London high school and was the father of a young child with a woman with whom he’d had a steady relationship for several years.

He was known as a regular at EMDC, and served at least four sentences the past five years.

But he never got comfortable with the conditions in jail, complaining about the overcrowding, assaults from inmates and staff, having medication stolen by inmates, and being denied medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sources said.

It’s not clear if those complaints were made to officials at the jail.

A friend told The Free Press the man had been struggling with addiction for years and another stint at EMDC, in segregation, might have been too much.

“You are in jail and you feel like a loser and you can’t ever get it together,” said the friend, a recovering addict. “You can’t help but get to that place (suicide) sometimes.”

Correctional sources said the man was in segregation for “acting out.”

Inmates are supposed to be screened at admission about their mental health and potential for suicide.

Inquests in Ontario have exposed flaws in the system in the past, from improper screening for mental illness to staff not sharing health information.

No one has suggested that happened in this case, and correctional sources said the man expressed no thoughts about suicide. Details will surface during a coroner’s investigation, called in Ontario when an inmate dies of unnatural causes.

The suicide cast EMDC, long a flashpoint for troubles in Ontario’s corrections system, back into the spotlight last week.

A few days before the suicide, inmates on one range began protesting conditions by banging and kicking their cells doors just as NDP corrections critic Lisa Gretzky toured the centre.

For the past month, inmates said, they’ve been locked in their cells from Friday afternoon to Monday morning as the province sends people from Chatham and Windsor serving weekends to EMDC.

Inmates on one range banded together to request “blue letters,” the forms used to complain to the Ontario ombudsman.

The ombudsman is looking into reports an entire range sent in letters at once, spokesperson Linda Williamson said.

In September alone, the office received 33 complaints about EMDC, with 22 from the blue letters, compared with 82 the previous five months, she said.

randy.richmond@sunmedia.ca