Considering the use of excessive force by correctional service officers during an intervention in prison, including a kick in the face which broke four teeth, an inmate was awarded $30,000 in damages.
The Court of Quebec ruled in favor of Roody Louis, a man accused of murder who was awaiting his trial in prison.
“Whatever the seriousness of the crime he has committed or of which he is suspected, the imprisoned person is not stripped of his fundamental attributes which the law recognizes as human beings within society. »
Detainees should not be treated as a “banned category of society”, wrote Judge Luc Huppé in his decision handed down last week. They are full human beings, he says.
A necessary clarification, according to Mr. Louis’ lawyer, Me Maryse Lapointe.
The litigator, who specializes in civil liability, noted that there is not much case law on the liability of prison guards. The detailed decision of Judge Huppé will be used for future cases, she judges.
The proof is also not easy to do: it is often the word of the prisoner against that of the correctional officers, she specifies. “And not everything is filmed. »
On December 14, 2015, his client was in a confinement area, commonly known as “the hole”, at the Rivière-des-Prairies detention center in Montreal.
In the middle of the night, the agents want to transfer Mr. Louis to another cell, in a less restrictive sector. They need his for an inmate suspected of hiding items in his body cavities. The officers are on the alert: they believe that a firearm has illegally entered the prison.
A Correctional Emergency Response Unit (ECIU) with imposing protective equipment is set up to proceed with the transfer at 2:17 a.m., summarizes the judge in his decision.
The agents go to his cell, Mr. Louis does not answer. Later, he will maintain that he was sleeping. They return soon after with gas masks. This time, he is awakened and informed of his transfer. He begins to pick up his things. But not fast enough for the taste of the agents, who testify that he insults them and does not obey orders, writes the magistrate. Mr. Louis is told to kneel down and cross his hands behind his head. Officers believe he offers “passive resistance.” He knelt down on the bed “to taunt us”, said one of them. And then, the situation degenerates: an “inflammatory agent” is launched into the cell: this substance aims to “create pain” to force a person to cooperate, notes the judge. Then, a “dynamic entry” is ordered.
While handcuffed, lying on the ground, Mr. Louis said he received several blows to the body and a kick in the mouth. Result: four broken teeth.
The lawsuit for damages only targets the blow in the teeth, and not the rest of the intervention. He will not receive treatment for this, he says, and will go on a hunger strike to get photos “to build proof.” »
The Attorney General of Quebec, responsible for correctional officers, maintains that there was no use of excessive force: resistance and lack of cooperation justified the measures taken. Officers deny kicking the inmate in the face.
The judge identifies the delicate issue of this file, namely “the balancing of important social interests”: on the one hand, the safety of correctional officers, and on the other, the fundamental rights of inmates.
Here, the judge believes Mr. Louis when he says he was kicked in the face. His testimony was credible and the photos show the broken teeth.
The judge noted that the use of necessary force is permitted when justified. Was it?
He writes that the intervention of the ECIU team “appears particularly brutal in view of the circumstances. At the time of the intervention, he was not in crisis and did not represent a threat.
A careful and diligent correctional officer does not behave that way, the judge said. There was no justification for the kick.
He therefore condemns the Quebec State to pay the man $15,000 in moral damages and $15,000 in punitive damages.
The decision can of course be appealed.