April 28 -- Release from Segregation

Given Warden Gallagher's determination to proceed with his recommendation for transfer (which had gone to Regional Headquarters for a final decision) and Gary Weaver's continued segregation, the matter now headed for court. For the last two weeks of April I worked on the preparation of my legal argument, culminating in a sixty-six-page brief. I also awaited receipt of the material to be filed by the Department of Justice in support of Warden Gallagher's decision to maintain Mr. Weaver in segregation. On the evening of April 27, I was advised by counsel for the Department of Justice that she would not be filing any material; on her advice, the warden would be releasing Mr. Weaver from segregation the next day and withdrawing his recommendation for involuntary transfer to Kent. On Wednesday, April 28, Gary Weaver was released to the general population after having served eighty days in segregation.

His time in segregation took a heavy toll on Mr. Weaver. In his first affidavit in support of the petition for habeas corpus, he described the conditions in segregation and his reaction to his false imprisonment.

During the ten years I have served on my life sentence I have spent many days in Segregation units in other prisons. However, the 50 days I have so far spent in Segregation at William Head is in many respects the most difficult and damaging. On February 2, 1999 I was in the community on a pass with other citizens, beginning a new life. Since February 8, I have been confined in a cage with no furnishings except a steel double bunk, a desk welded to the floor and a steel sink and toilet. I am not even allowed to sleep in darkness because there is a light which remains on throughout the night. This light is bright enough to read from and it makes sleep fitful and at times impossible. Most distressing is the fact that I have been placed in Segregation for something I did not do and that the RCMP do not believe that I did. The Warden of William Head and Unit Manager Callahan, the Chair of the Segregation Review Board, have failed to take into account any of the evidence that the RCMP find compelling and continue to treat me as if I am guilty of the assault. From day to day I tell myself, "Be patient, hang on, justice will prevail, the truth will be revealed," but I still remain in Segregation. When I first came down to Segregation, for the first 10 days I imagined every time I heard a noise in the hallway, that my cell door was going to open and there was going to be either the warden, Mr. Callahan or someone else saying, "Look, Gary, there's been a mistake here, you're going back to population, we're going to restore everything." That has not happened and I do not believe it will happen without the intervention of this Court. (Affidavit of Gary Weaver, April 1, 1999, para. 69)

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