’Don’t want my brother to die:’ Inmate’s sister worried about his mental health

Article content continued

“They recently shot him in the face with a rubber bullet,” she said.

The Correctional Service of Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

Metcalfe says Dinardo’s case is like many others. She notes that she and other advocates continue to point out the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s prisons.

The Office of the Correctional Investigator has raised concerns about the use of force reported at treatment centres and the psychological effects of being isolated.

In the 2018-19 annual report, the federal watchdog stated that human rights are violated when incarnated people are “punished” for behaviours tied to underlying mental-health issues.

Dinardo details one time this year when, upon returning to his maximum-security prison after self-harming, he was put in restraints.

“After about three hours, they finally let me use the washroom and afterwards I refused to be strapped down again. They hosed me down with pepper spray,” his complaint reads.

Once restrained again, he wasn’t allowed to go to the bathroom alone and soiled himself, Dinardo writes.

“It was several hours before I was allowed to go clean myself. I was so distressed that I flipped the … board over twice, hitting my head on the ground. At some point I began spitting up blood.”

Dinardo’s complaint says he’s at a regional treatment centre, where he wants to stay. He was taken there this month after he cut himself in an observation cell.

His statutory release is set for March 2022.

“I worry all the time that he won’t make it,” his sister says.