🚀 go-pugleaf

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On paper, the situation could not be better.  The law says that the
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) has an obligation to "act fairly".  This
in general means, that prisoner's request can not be denied, unless there is
a good reason to do so, and in this case, CSC is obliged to explain the
reason in writing to the prisoner. In addition, the law specifically says,
that it is forbidden to mistreat a prisoner, who makes complaints.  More
than that, jailers can not even mention in any of the documents the fact
that a prisoner makes complaints.  In reality, this hypocritical country has
never lived up to its beautiful laws.

When I came to the system in 1993, the time limits for complaint
adjudication were one week for urgent complaint and 3 weeks for regular
complaints. Complaint is considered urgent, if it is related to health care,
involuntary transfer or detention.  After the scandal at the Kingston prison
for women, judge Arbour made a recommendation, that CSC should respect the
time limits for complaint adjudication.  Jailers decided, instead of
respecting the existing time limits, they extended those time limits: now
urgent complaint has the time limit of 3 weeks, while regular complaint is
to be answered in 5 weeks.  If you think, that jailers now respect the time
limits, think again. By the way, Provincial jailers respond to a complaint
in 24 hours, second level - in 48 hours, and the third level in 72 hours.
This does not mean, that those responses are fair, but at least they are
fair.

I have made a quite extensive research on this subject. I have filed well
over 500 complaints on every imaginable subject.  I was curious to see how
inmate complains are being treated.  I have discovered, that whatever rule
can be violated, is violated, and a prisoner can not get redress at any
level, even when he is 150% right. I give below some examples of my
complaints and the way they were treated.

The general rules are as follows.  If a prisoner is mistreated, he can write
a complaint, which is to be responded within 5 weeks by a jail manager. If
the inmate is not satisfied with the response, he can write a. grievance to
Level One, which has to be answered by the warden.  If the inmate is not
satisfied with the warden's response, he can write a grievance to Level Two,
which is responded by the Provincial Commissioner, and finally, Level Three
grievance is adjudicated at the National Headquarters in Ottawa.  After
that, inmate can write to the Correctional Investigator, who acts as an
independent ombudsman. So, on paper, everything is fine, but the reality is
something else.

Example one. Several years ago, I needed to send a letter to US, and I wrote
an authorization to deduct $0.52 postage from my account. True to their
habit of stealing from prisoners, jailers have deducted $0.90, which at that
time was a regular postage overseas.  It escapes me, why would they need to
steal $0.32 with their average $50,000 salary - these people are
pathological thieves.

First, I thought that it was an honest mistake and tried to settle the
matter, to no avail.  So, I decided to make an experiment: to see, how
jailers would defend this seemingly indefensible theft.  They could not say
that my letter was heavier than usual, since the rate of $0.90 to US at that
time just did not exist.  I have lost at all levels.  The response was:
postal rates are established by Canada Post, and jailers have no power to
change them.

This is what jailers typically do: a prisoner writes about a certain
violation, and jailers respond about something else.  The purpose is
obvious: to make prisoners angry, so that they would commit another crime
after their liberation and come right back.  Though the system is called
"correctional", the last thing jailers want is "correction" of inmates.
Their worst nightmare: there is no more crime - they will all lose their
jobs.

Since I was so obviously right, I have decided to check out the objectivity
of Correctional Investigator Stewart and sent my complaint to him.  Stewart
has responded that he agreed with the response given by CSC.  My attempt to
question his employees as to why CSC was right was unsuccessful: Stewart
ordered his employees not to talk to me.  Why?  Because his position is
impossible to defend in a face-to-face conversation, while he can put
anything on paper.  I am the only prisoner in Canada, with who Stewart
refuses to speak, though this is what he is paid for.

Yet another subject of inmate complaints - guards' misbehaviour. I reproduce
below the typical response:

"After verification, we were informed that Mrs. Lafontaine, Correctional
Officer, works with professionalism and applies institutional rules.  The
Correctional Service of Canada staff has been trained to intervene
judicially with inmates.  When institutional authorities note that an
employee had an inadequate behaviour towards an inmate, corrective measures
are taken to ensure a just and fair treatment to inmates."

Can you get from this response, what was I complaining about?  Of course, my
complaint was denied.  Here is yet another quote:

"All employees of the Correctional Service of Canada are subjected to a very
strict code of discipline.  If institutional authorities note that a staff
member has an inadequate behaviour, corrective measures are taken in order
to ensure a fair and equal treatment to all inmates"

The cliche is clear.  Whatever an inmate is complaining about, the typical
response is: "A thorough investigation has been done, no evidence supporting
the allegations was found." There is no specific discussion of the
allegations.  In the case of an inmate complaining on bodily harm, the
typical response - the inmate did it to himself. In the case of an internal
injury, which inmate can not do to himself, jailers have dishonest doctors,
ready to cover-up for them.

Guard Amyot has deliberately broken my ribs in Donnacona jail in 1994. I was
brought to the hospital (St-Francois d'Assise) and there radiologist Legare
was happy to oblige: I was informed that no ribs were broken. It took me
several years to get a documental confirmation that she lied. I field a
lawsuit for $10 million, and I am sure that I shall never win a penny.
Corrupt Canadian judges will never find me right and jailers wrong.

I did not win even 1% of my complaint, nevertheless jailers for some reasons
seem to be very upset with my complaints and are using their informants to
intimidate me, to harass me.  Some people ask me, why am I filing all these
complaints and lawsuits, if I know that I would never win?  The answer is
very simple: losing in court, when I am 100% right, is my victory, because
my purpose is to show that there is no respect for the law in this country,
that an ordinary person gets always screwed up by the rich and powerful,
with the help of corrupt judges, and in such a lawless society, one has the
right to defend himself, with deadly force, if necessary.

Fabrikant

P. S. If you wish to see more material written by me, send an E-mail to
hollyric@colba.net, and you will be given the name of my web site on the
condition that you do not post it.  If you have doubts about the
authenticity of any posting, send your inquiry to the same address, and you
will get a confirmation or a denial.



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