He absolutely died!! By heart attack in just a few moments. It's very fast, and well... a lil google search will show it's a deadly chemical compound, very much sought after for suicide. However it's a quick, very painful death with little to no time to intervene & resuscitate. I think most people on this site are looking for a way out that's more painless. It's probably just as hard to get CN as N; so I think people here will go for N. But if you needed something you could hide on your person & access any moment to use; then the vial of Cyanide has advantages over Other methods & that man was a prisoner who needed a method like that.