Convicted murderer who spent 49 years behind bars dies in prison; circumstances being reviewed

The Mission Correctional Institution in Mission, B.C. is pictured Tuesday, April 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

A man who spent nearly 50 years behind bars died last week at a B.C. corrections facility.

The Correctional Service of Canada said Roger Mathurin, who was living at the Mission Institution, died Friday.

He'd been serving an indeterminate sentence for offences including second-degree murder and manslaughter, CSC said in a news release Tuesday. 

His sentence began in 1973, meaning he spent 49 years locked up before his death. He'd been in custody longer than the medium-security facility where he died has been open. Mission Institution, which also contains a minimum-security facility, opened in April 1977, with a combined capacity of 540 inmates.

Officials say the circumstances are being reviewed, as they are in all cases involving the death of an inmate.

The coroner has also been notified, as has Mathurin's next of kin.

CSC did not say whether Mathurin is believed to have died a natural death, or if there was some other cause. The service says all deaths that appear to be of natural causes are subject to a mortality review, which will determine whether further investigation is needed.