SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan mother whose son died in a police holding cell after she says he was mistaken for drunk says it has been a long three years waiting for a public inquiry.

The Saskatchewan government has announced an inquest into the death of Brandon Daniels will begin this month.

Daniels, 19, was found dead in his cell at the Saskatoon Police Service Detention Centre on July 3, 2010.

Daniels was from the Mistawasis First Nation and his mother, Sherry Bird, says he had gone to Saskatoon to shop and got separated from his family.

Police said in a news release at the time that Daniels was arrested because he appeared to be intoxicated.

But Bird says her son was taking prescribed medication for a suspected mental illness and took a large dose of acetaminophen after getting lost.

Bird says the toxicology report found there was no alcohol or drugs in Daniels’ system, other than the prescribed medication and acetaminophen.

Noel Busse, a spokesman for the province’s justice department, says Daniels’ cause of death isn’t being released now, but will be made public at the inquiry.

The Coroners Act in Saskatchewan requires an inquest into any death of an inmate of a jail or correctional facility unless the coroner is satisfied the death was due entirely to natural causes and was not preventable.

Bird says officials told Bird at the time of her son’s death that there would be an inquiry within a year.

Busse says there were delays with the police review of the incident and he says changes have been made with the review process to prevent similar delays with future cases.

The inquest will run October 28 through November 1 with coroner Alma Wiebe presiding.