Zakery Rogers’ family has for years wondered why the father of three died alone in a jail cell at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.

They now have an answer.

Following a weeklong inquest that heard from correctional officers, doctors, forensic pathologists and family, a jury on Friday ruled the 26-year-old died as a result of myocarditis that had gone undetected by doctors.

Just before his death on Jan. 31, 2021, Rogers was under physician and nurse care at Hamilton General Hospital, being treated for cardiac arrest he had suffered two days earlier.

Doctors believed the cardiac arrest was induced by illicit drugs due to information from correctional officers as well as Rogers’ history of substance use, the inquest heard. They felt it was appropriate to discharge him given his qui

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