Man distressed before prison suicide: father

Solitary confinement challenged in court

VANCOUVER — A B.C. man says his son was in a “fragmented” state of mind just days before he hanged himself in a solitaryconfinement prison cell where he didn’t belong.

Robert Roy told a B.C. Supreme Court trial challenging the use of indefinite confinement that he was upset to learn his son wanted to be transferred from medium-security Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford to Kent Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary in nearby Agassiz.

Court heard Christopher Roy, 37, arrived at Matsqui and was immediately placed in a segregation cell, where he used a ligature to kill himself two months later in June 2015.

His father testified Wednesday that he learned from Correctional Service Canada documents he obtained through a freedom-ofinformation request that his son was placed in isolation because there was nowhere else to put him.

Roy said his son hanged himself hours after being told he would be sent to Kent Institution, adding he was surprised to learn his son told a parole officer he wanted to be moved to a maximum-security facility.

“I believe my son was not in a healthy state of mind at that point,” Roy said at a trial launched by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada. The groups allege the country’s solitary-confinement regime constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment.

Matthew Huculak, a lawyer for the federal government, said Roy believed other inmates at Matsqui were incompatible with him.

Correctional Service Canada has said administrative segregation is used when inmates are difficult to manage, their safety may be at risk in the general population, or if there is no reasonable alternative to maintain the safety and security of an institution.

The constitutional challenge was launched in January 2015, but the federal government has tried to stop the trial by saying that legislation introduced two weeks ago will impose a time limit on how long an inmate can be placed in solitary confinement.

Under the current law, the corrections agency is required to release prisoners from administrative segregation at the earliest possible time.