BURNABY, BC – Nick Dinardo, a Two Spirit prisoner diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, reports being met with violence by correctional officers while in a CSC “treatment centre.”
Nick is a member of the Piapot First Nation, and their family are residential school survivors. Nick has a history of trauma both in and out of custody and has attempted suicide many times. Despite their vulnerability, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) holds Nick in maximum security prisons and Structured Intervention Units (SIU), where the toxic environment makes their mental health worse and results in serious acts of self-harm.
On March 1, 2021, after multiple incidents of self-harming in the SIU at Atlantic Institution, Nick was transferred to the Shepody Healing Centre, a CSC-run treatment centre in Dorchester, New Brunswick.
While at Shepody, Nick reports they were in emotional distress after receiving some upsetting news. Nick pressed the panic button and officers responded in anger. Nick threw the button (away from officers into the corner of the room) and the officers responded by pepper spraying Nick in the face and open cuts, jumping on top of them, twisting them up and smashing their head. Officers yelled things like, “you f*cking goof, you never shut your mouth you piece of sh*t”.
“It is appalling that someone in emotional distress would be subjected to violence and abuse by officers in a treatment centre” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services. “Why didn’t health care staff attempt to de-escalate the situation and avoid the use of violence against someone who is already deeply traumatized? The amount of force Nick describes appears unnecessary and excessive, and a violation of law and policy,” she said.
Officers did not remove Nick’s handcuffs or allow them to take off their clothes for a decontamination shower, which is contrary to policy. Nick reports officers kept turning the water to scalding hot, intensifying the effect of the pepper spray and causing Nick intense pain.
Prisoners’ Legal Services has requested that this use of force be reviewed by CSC at the highest level.
After this incident, Nick cut themself and wrote “help” on their cell wall in blood.
In response, Nick was restrained on a Pinel board without having their wounds sutured, despite some of them being so deep that Nick could see their veins. Officers made antagonistic comments to them while they were strapped down. Nick reports that after they were released from the Pinel board they fell asleep and woke up soaked in blood. Nick lost consciousness from blood loss, and was placed back in the Pinel restraints, still without having their wounds mended. Nick had also swallowed razor blades, and reports that while they were on the Pinel board, they began coughing up large amounts of blood. They continued to vomit up blood in the days that followed.
Nick was taken to outside hospital on approximately March 3, 2021 and was returned to maximum-security Atlantic Institution on approximately March 5, 2021, where they will likely be returned to isolation in the Structured Intervention Unit.
CSC has acknowledged that uses of force, isolation and restraint have been traumatic for Nick and contribute to his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms.
Nick has requested placement at an institution that would better reflect their gender identity as Two Spirit, and where they could receive trauma treatment in a less hostile environment.
“I just want my basic rights and to be treated like a human being. That’s all I ask for,” said Nick.
Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) has recommended in its report Damage/Control: Use of force and the cycle of violence and trauma in BC’s federal and provincial prisons, that psychiatric nurses play a more central role in responding to prisoners in emotional distress, and that responses be supportive and trauma-informed. PLS has further recommended that correctional officers receive more training in de-escalation skills and non-violent crisis intervention, especially for those working with people with mental health disabilities and in treatment centres.
Nick filed a complaint on July 27, 2020 with the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging ongoing discrimination by CSC.
Prisoners’ Legal Services has also filed a systemic representative human rights complaint that addresses many of these issues.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470