B.C. gang associate sues jail over protective custody designation
Credit to Author: Kim Bolan| Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019 00:27:46 +0000
A B.C. man linked to the United Nations gang has filed a lawsuit against the North Fraser Pretrial Centre because jail staff there said he should be placed in protective custody for his own safety.
Mouayad Alhomsi claimed in a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court that correctional officers at the Port Coquitlam jail repeatedly charged him with breaching regulations after he refused to move to a protective custody unit.
He said in his suit that a placement in protective custody would have led to “imminent violence.”
“He maintains that the institution has not properly classified him as a protective custody inmate and that all orders for him to attend protective custody are unlawful,” said Alhomsi’s claim, filed by his lawyer Talia Magder.
Alhomsi is seeking a court order setting aside the disciplinary decisions issued against him.
His petition was supposed to be heard in New Westminster earlier this month, but has now been adjourned until December.
The B.C. government said in a response filed on behalf of North Fraser that the 19-year-old admitted to a correctional officer that he was “affiliated with the UN and has issues with the (Independent Soldiers), (Red Scorpions) and Wolf Pack.”
“United Nations, Independent Soldiers, Red Scorpions, and Wolf Pack are well-known gangs operating in the Lower Mainland,” the response said.
And it said that B.C. correctional officers have a responsibility to place inmates in protective custody if they have information about a threat to that inmate.
“A security alert of protective custody (PC) was placed on his file for his own safety. He did not agree with the PC classification and repeatedly refused to obey orders of correctional officers to attend at his assigned living unit,” the response said.
Just days after Alhomsi arrived at North Fraser in April 2018, “information had been received that Mr. Alhomsi was green lit by an influential gang in the jail and as such, he would be at risk,” the court documents said.
“On April 12, 2018, Mr. Alhomsi and an associate assaulted another influential inmate at (North Fraser) while living in the general population unit. … It is common for rival gang members to incite violence against each other’s associates, and such individuals are often classified as PC to keep them and others in the centre safe.”
Every time Alhomsi refused to go to the protective custody unit, he was placed in segregation and faced internal jail charges.
“Mr. Alhomsi spent a total of 108 days in segregation as a result of the placement issue,” his petition said.
Alhomsi was transferred to the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in May 2018, but got into a fight there and was sent back to Port Coquitlam on June 15 where he was again classified as “PC” because “there was a risk that he could get seriously injured or killed in general population,” the court documents said.
On July 25, 2018, he was “assaulted by another inmate” while in segregation.
He then spent a few months in Surrey Pretrial where he was placed “on a specialized living unit with other inmates that are alleged from the same ilk.”
That unit closed in February 2019 and he was returned to North Fraser where he was again classified as “protective custody” because of “his continued suspected gang affiliations.”
“Between February and May 2019, he was directed to attend at his PC living unit on at least 13 occasions and refused,” the government said in its response.
Alhomsi is no longer in pretrial custody. In July, he pleaded guilty to robbery with a firearm and was sentenced to 764 days in custody and given a lifetime firearms prohibition.