News Release: Human rights complaint alleges correctional officers used violence to cut off man’s clothes and break a bone in his face while he was restrained on suicide watch

by | Dec 16, 2021 | News Releases

Burnaby BC – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services filed a human rights complaint on behalf of Perry DeFazio against the Correctional Service Canada for discrimination based on mental health disability.

Perry has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has a history of self-harm and suicide attempts. He is a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse.

On January 28, 2020, Perry was put in an isolation cell for suicide monitoring at Correctional Service Canada’s Regional Mental Health Centre in Quebec. Correctional officers forcibly tackled Perry, held him down on the bed and cut off his clothes.

Later the same day, Perry was strapped to Pinel restraints to prevent self-harm, where he was taunted by a correctional officer. He spent hours in the restraints. A nurse saw that his foot was injured and asked officers to adjust the straps. An officer accused Perry of spitting at him, although officers were wearing face shields. An officer then punched Perry in the head twice. Another officer hit him in the face three times. He was eventually taken to the hospital where he saw in a mirror that his face was swollen like a balloon. Hospital records confirm that officers used so much force that the bone around Perry’s eye was fractured and his nose was injured.

“I feel traumatized and I am afraid when guards come near me” Perry says in his complaint. He also describes experiencing anxiety attacks.

The Correctional Service Canada reviewed the use of force and concluded that the force was not necessary or proportionate. The Office of the Correctional Investigator confirmed these findings.

“It is appalling that physical violence is used at a Treatment Centre against someone in emotional distress. Treatment centres should be safe and therapeutic environments where people are treated compassionately by health care professionals. Instead we see people facing isolation and violence when they feel suicidal,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.

CSC health care staff did not speak with Perry about this violent experience, or help him to process it.

“Trust is an essential foundation to any therapeutic health care relationship. How can people in prison have trust with mental health care providers if they fail to acknowledge the trauma of these kinds of abusive practices?” said Jennifer Metcalfe.

Prisoners’ Legal Services takes the position that correctional officers should not be on living units of treatment centres unless called in by health care staff for assistance, and that interventions for people in emotional distress should be led by health care staff.

Media contact:

Jennifer Metcalfe
604-636-0470

News Release: PLS releases paper documenting Canada’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous people in its prisons

by | Sep 29, 2021 | News, News Releases, Uncategorized

BURNABY, BC – September 29, 2021

Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services released a paper documenting government reports that confirm Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people held in its prisons constitutes a continuation of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Indigenous people in prison are more likely to be held in maximum security and solitary confinement. They are more likely to have violence used against them by correctional officers. Indigenous people in prison have high rates of death by homicide, suicide attempts and self-harm.

The Canadian government spends more than half-a-billion dollars each year imprisoning Indigenous people, while it denies funding to Indigenous communities to provide healing services and significantly under-funds Indigenous-run healing lodges.

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services calls on Canada to end the genocidal practice of incarcerating Indigenous people in prisons, and calls on Canada to ensure Indigenous communities have the resources to provide healing alternatives to imprisonment.

Leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services has received reports from Indigenous people that correctional officers have been making racist remarks, including that the reports of unmarked graves identified at the sites of former residential schools are “fake news” and “propaganda” and that Indigenous people should “let it go”.

These remarks were made to people who are experiencing the very real pain and intergenerational trauma of genocide, in an environment where every aspect of their lives is controlled by the state.

“There is hypocrisy in creating a national holiday in the spirit of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous people while Canada actively engages in the mass-incarceration of Indigenous people. We can’t have truth until Canada acknowledges these ongoing atrocities, and we can’t have reconciliation until we stop denying Indigenous nations and communities the ability to heal,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.

Media contact:

Jennifer Metcalfe
604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca