A coronial inquest has heard an Aboriginal man who died in custody at Cessnock Correctional Centre last year was admitted to hospital a month prior after a medical episode.
William Haines of the Bundjalung and Gomeroi nations was found unresponsive in his cell on April 27 last year prompting the inquest underway this week in Tamworth.
Magistrate Forbes, the Deputy State Coroner heard yesterday the 37-year-old had spent about ten days in hospital in the weeks leading up to his death.
He was taken to Cessnock hospital after suffering a medical episode which saw him transferred to the John Hunter Hospital where he saw a cardiologist.
He was handcuffed to his bed during that time.
Mr Haines was diagnosed with atypical chest pain and discharged – he died just over a month later.
The inquest is looking into his cause of death and the factors that contributed to it, the medical care he received and whether the use of handcuffs was necessary.
It is scheduled to continue until Friday at Tamworth Court House.