February 27, 2019 – Burnaby – Prisoners’ Legal Services
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) filed an injunction in federal court on behalf of Joey Toutsaint, a federal prisoner with serious mental health issues who has spent more than 2,000 days in segregation in Correctional Service Canada custody. Mr. Toutsaint is currently in segregation at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, where he is self-harming on a regular basis and says he thinks of suicide almost every day. The injunction argues he is at risk of death if he is not transferred to a treatment centre.
“It is unconscionable that someone with Mr. Toutsaint’s mental health issues would be held for so long by the government in conditions the United Nations considers torture or cruel treatment,” said Nicole Kief, a Legal Advocate at Prisoners’ Legal Services. “If he isn’t considered inadmissible to segregation, it is hard to imagine who would be.”
Mr. Toutsaint is an Indigenous man from northern Saskatchewan who grew up on the Black Lake Denesuline First Nation reserve. He experienced trauma as a young person that continued during his time in prison. He spent several years at Edmonton Institution, now notorious for its culture of fear, intimidation and bullying, where he suffered both physical and sexual violence. Mr. Toutsaint was recently diagnosed by an independent psychiatrist with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder.
Mr. Toutsaint has a very lengthy history of self-injury, which includes cutting, head-banging, punching himself in the face, choking himself and biting himself. He has been on suicide watch numerous times and placed in restraints to prevent him from hurting himself. He has been OC sprayed and confronted by guards in riot gear (known as the Emergency Response Team) in response to his self-harming. In May of 2018, he slit his throat, severing his jugular vein and suffering extensive blood loss.
“My body is covered in scars. I used to cut from side to side, but now I go up and down because I’m running out of space. I used to take out my anger on other people, but now I take it out on myself. I feel broken,” Mr. Toutsaint said. “When I worry that the Emergency Response Team is coming, I wait with a razor blade to my neck. I’ve been through that so many times and I can’t go through that again.”
In June of 2017, a CSC psychologist found that Mr. Toutsaint’s mental health was deteriorating in segregation. An independent psychiatrist also concluded, in October of 2018, that Mr. Toutsaint’s psychiatric problems were greatly exacerbated by his isolation and that being in solitary confinement was making him more suicidal.
Despite these findings, Mr. Toutsaint has continued to be placed in isolation, where he continues to self-harm on a regular basis. CSC mental health staff have repeatedly found him fit to remain in segregation.
“Mr. Toutsaint’s case illustrates the need for independent health care services for prisoners in Canada. Why does an independent psychiatrist consider him to be clearly suffering from major mental illnesses and at risk of suicide in segregation, while CSC health care professionals consider him fit for segregation?” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
Mr. Toutsaint has made numerous requests to be transferred to a treatment centre to get help with his mental illnesses and his self-harming. These requests have gone unanswered.
In May of 2018, PLS assisted Mr. Toutsaint in filing a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission about discrimination on the basis of his mental disability and his Indigenous identity.
Today’s injunction asks the court to move Mr. Toutsaint to the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon and provide him with meaningful treatment for his trauma and loss as well as access to Dene traditional practices, arguing that failure to do so would place him at high risk of life-threatening self-harm and even death.
Media contacts:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
Nicole Kief
nkief@ps-bc.ca
604-636-0470