Wednesday, September 1 -- The Disciplinary Court Convenes

On Wednesday, September 1, 1993, the weekly session of the Matsqui disciplinary court convened. The court, presided over by the Independent Chairperson, Mr. Keith Routley, has the mandate under the CCRA of adjudicating disciplinary charges designated as 'serious'. Charges designated 'minor' are adjudicated by correctional supervisors who have more restricted powers of punishment than the Independent Chairperson and, in particular, cannot impose a sentence of segregation. On the court's docket were two prisoners who had been held in segregation, in the first case, for comments made following the assault on Mike Boileau and in the second case for alleged threats made during Operation Big Scoop. Mr. Badari was charged with threatening to assault an officer. Officer Morton gave evidence that Mr. Badari was told to lock up for the 4:00 p.m. count. As Mr. Morton was going down the ranges Mr. Badari attempted to walk by him to get some water from the washroom. Mr. Morton told him he could not do this, it was time to lock up and ordered him to go back to his cell. Mr. Badari went into his cell but Mr. Morton heard him say through the open door, "Maybe you need a punch in the fucking head, too." Mr. Morton then closed the door and continued to go down the range. He was questioned by Mr. Routley, as to where exactly Mr. Badari was at the time he made this statement. Officer Morton replied that he was inside the cell with the door partly open. In response to further questioning, he said that Mr. Badari did not make any overt physical move. Mr. Morton was also asked whether he felt threatened by Mr. Badari's statement and his response was that coming so soon after the Boileau incident he did take it personally. Mr. Routley ruled that he was not satisfied that the actions alleged against Mr. Badari constituted a serious enough breach of security to justify being designated a serious charge and referred the matter to minor court.

Of the four prisoners who were alleged to have made derogatory remarks in the aftermath of the Boileau assault, Mr. Badari was the only prisoner who remained in segregation. The three other prisoners had been released a week previously. Significantly, his was the only case in which serious allegations had been made against a staff member of using excessive force -- by smashing him against a barrier while his hands were handcuffed behind his back. Mr. Routley had now determined that the allegations against Mr. Badari merited no more than a minor court charge which, even if Mr. Badari were found guilty, did not permit a sentence of segregation. However, at the time of Mr. Routley's determination, Mr. Badari had already spent nine days in segregation.

Mr. Hurst was the prisoner taken up to segregation at the start of Operation Big Scoop for making threatening statements in the living unit. The charge he faced was creating or participating in a disturbance likely to jeopardize the security of the institution. The charging officer gave evidence that while the institution was locked down that Friday morning, he had gone onto Mr. Hurst's tier to give two diabetic prisoners their special meal. Mr. Hurst was out of his cell but was separated by a barrier from the officer. He stated in a loud voice, "You fucking better have good reason for this or there's going to be some retaliation." The officer said that he did not feel this was directed at him personally but he did report it to the keeper on the first floor. A little while later Mr. Hurst was observed standing at the end of the range and the officer overhead him saying to other prisoners, "If they don't serve breakfast soon, I'm going to start kicking heads." The officer said that this again was not directed to him and he was not even sure that Mr. Hurst knew he was there. Again, he reported this to the keeper and a little while later six or seven officers came up, went down to Mr. Hurst's cell and took him to segregation. Bud Alcock, who was sitting as the institutional advisor to the court, then explained to Mr. Routley the context of what had happened; a decision had been made to segregate a number of prisoners and, because of the volatile situation, instructions had been given that anyone who "vocalized" during the operation should be segregated.

Mr. Routley concluded that "talk about kicking heads was not exactly pouring oil on troubled waters" and he was satisfied that Mr. Hurst was guilty of the charge. However, since the prisoners were locked on the ranges, he did not view it as falling within the upper range of severity. He imposed a fine of $15 as the sentence. When Mr. Routley handed down his judgement, Mr. Hurst had already spent six days in segregation; although he had not been an original target in Operation Big Scoop, he had already spent two more days than nine of the prisoners who were the primary targets.

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