'It was hell': Former inmate sues N.B. government over segregation, access to meds

Every truthful often, Eric Robichaud dreams astir being trapped successful a small, grey country — chopped disconnected from different people, with thing to bash but look astatine the ceiling. 

When helium wakes up, Robichaud is horrified to retrieve that this imagination was his waking world for 5 months astatine a New Brunswick jail successful 2016.

The erstwhile inmate, who lives with anxiousness and attraction shortage hyperactivity disorder, said his intelligence wellness rapidly deteriorated.

"It was hell," Robichaud said.

He describes the segregation compartment helium occupied astatine the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre successful Shediac arsenic windowless and cold. 

Robichaud said his segregation stemmed from unit concerns astir his taking his anxiousness medicine portion successful the wide population.

The 39-year-old Baie-Sainte-Anne nonmigratory is present a pb plaintiff successful a 2023 imaginable people enactment suit against the state pursuing his acquisition successful 2016.

Though his clip successful segregation astatine the Shediac jail was almost a decennary ago, CBC News has learned that deficiency of entree to wellness services and medications successful jailhouse is simply a persistent ailment to the New Brunswick ombud. 

Varied access

In 2014 and 2015, Robichaud was an inmate astatine the Dalhousie Correctional Centre and Madawaska Correctional Centre aft being sentenced for attempted robbery. 

At some jails, helium was capable to take a prescribed benzodiazepine — a communal sedative prescribed for anxiety — without issue.

But this changed, Robichaud said, when helium was remanded to the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre successful 2016 on 2 battle charges. 

At the Shediac jail, Robichaud claims staff were acrophobic astir the cause perchance circulating to different inmates and decided helium would lone beryllium allowed to proceed his medicine portion successful segregation.

That statement continued for 5 months, until Robichaud was transferred to the Dalhousie Regional Correctional Centre. 

There, Robichaud said, helium was capable to resume surviving successful the wide colonisation portion continuing to instrumentality his medication. 

84 complaints successful 1 year

Inmate complaints astir entree to wellness attraction and medications often onshore connected the table of the New Brunswick ombud. 

In 2023-24, the astir caller reporting year, Marie-France Pelletier's bureau fielded 84 complaints astir entree to wellness care, including medications, down bars, she said. 

The bureau doesn't way ailment outcomes by topic, but a spokesperson said by email that unit were capable to find an informal solution successful astir cases. Statistics connected whether complaints are founded are not kept.

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In 2018, Kim Adair-MacPherson, who was auditor wide astatine the time, flagged large shortcomings successful however New Brunswick's corrections strategy handles inmates with intelligence unwellness and addictions. 

As portion of that report, she recommended the state standardize the medications disposable crossed its correctional institutions. The state said successful a connection that it has completed this step.

But Pelletier said she inactive gets complaints astir entree and has been moving with correctional officials to find a solution.

"If it's conscionable a question of … 1 instauration doing it otherwise than the other, that hardly seems similar a bully crushed to not person entree to the health that you need," Pelletier said.

The state declined respective CBC News requests for an interview. 

The province's argumentation connected segregation lists "medical attraction format" arsenic 1 of six acceptable reasons for segregation, but the lone usage related to medicine included in the papers is about inmates successful detox oregon utilizing a "high information opioid prescription."

A spokesperson for the state said the determination wellness authorities created their ain policies connected medicine successful jails. Responsibility for wellness services successful corrections was transferred to the 2 authorities successful 2022, the state said.

Both Vitalité Health Network and Horizon Health Network declined interrogation requests. 

CBC News asked for copies of the existent medicine policies from some determination wellness authorities, and successful effect they sent emailed statements. 

Vitalité oversees the Dalhousie and Madawaska correctional centres. 

"When a diligent enters a provincial correctional facility, they acquisition an archetypal nursing appraisal to reappraisal medications they were prescribed anterior to admission," a Vitalité  spokesperson wrote. 

"Existing prescriptions, including medications for anxiousness oregon addiction attraction specified arsenic methadone, indispensable past beryllium re-prescribed by the facility's physician."

But that tin airs problems due to the fact that determination is nary on-site physician. While a caregiver is connected tract for 16 hours, the spokesperson said, inmates could look delays accessing medicine oregon attraction that request a doctor's approval. Doctor visits usually hap weekly.

Horizon said doc visits to the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre, Southeast Regional Correctional Centre and New Brunswick Youth Centre/New Brunswick Women's Correctional Centre tin hap weekly, biweekly oregon monthly, either virtually oregon successful person.

Natasha Lemieux, Horizon's vice-president community, said successful an email that a doc volition constitute a prescription after an inmate interrogation and a thorough review. 

"This past is compared to the past the patient's pharmacy provides, and what the patient's physics wellness grounds shows," Lemieux said.

The provincial policy, which is nary longer successful effect, outlined a akin process but besides included accusation connected transferring inmate medications betwixt jails and prescriptions to beryllium issued erstwhile an inmate is released.

The 'revolving door' effect  

Research by Martha Paynter, a University of New Brunswick subordinate prof of nursing, suggests inmates thin to person highly analyzable backgrounds and health-care needs. 

Paynter says adjacent a abbreviated play successful jailhouse tin beryllium destabilizing. 

"You're arrested," Paynter said. "And truthful possibly you're losing your job, and you're losing your location due to the fact that you don't wage rent, and you're losing your children.

"We cognize those things each origin america each trauma. That's wherefore radical perpetrate suicide. That's wherefore radical spiral into psychosis … present you're not getting your due psychiatric medication."

Paynter says that tin pb to behaviours that effect successful further charges, making provincial jailhouse a "revolving door".

According to the Department of Public Safety, 20 per cent of radical who were sentenced to jailhouse successful 2024 had been successful custody wrong the past 3 years connected different sentences.

That fig doesn't see those held successful remand oregon serving sentences wrong the community.

Family doc Dr. Sara Davidson, who sees patients astatine the Riverstone Recovery Centre and Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre, says immoderate of the radical she treats person spent clip successful jail.

She said entree to medicine and wellness services appears to beryllium connected the jail, the doc moving there, and their position connected what attraction is indispensable portion a idiosyncratic is successful custody. 

"It seems to beryllium rather prescriber-dependent successful presumption of however immoderate of that attraction rolls out — in bully ways, and besides successful different ways that possibly [aren't] gathering radical precisely wherever they are at," Davidson said. 

"There's that deficiency of consistency crossed the committee from a provincial organization level."

On release, she said, inmates whitethorn look insecure housing, poverty, and home violence. Something arsenic elemental arsenic not having a cellphone tin provender into the revolving-door effect. 

"You miss your followup check-in with your probation officer, oregon you miss your appointments … and truthful you're picked up connected breaches, and it conscionable becomes this chaotic rhythm that radical truly get profoundly stuck in." 

This has implications for New Brunswick's bottommost line, arsenic Adair-MacPherson warned successful 2018, noting the outgo to accommodate an inmate for 1 twelvemonth was $66,000. 

"Not treating intelligence wellness and addiction issues tin summation the vulnerability of individuals to antagonistic outcomes, including re-offending, which successful crook increases the outgo to New Brunswickers," Adair-MacPherson wrote successful 2018. 

The Department of Public Safety reports that the outgo arsenic of 2022-23 had grown to $88,300. 

Lawsuit adjacent steps 

Robichaud said he hopes the imaginable people enactment volition assistance New Brunswickers recognize however galore inmates person been done a akin acquisition — and however detrimental it tin be.

"You're astir definite to spell brainsick aft a while," Robichaud said. "You're beauteous overmuch similar a confined animal."

Halifax-based People's Advocacy and Transformational Hub, known arsenic PATH, filed the suit and is awaiting people certification.

The suit centres connected extended stays successful segregation, including for aesculapian reasons.

The connection of assertion contends Robichaud's acquisition constitutes "cruel and antithetic punishment." 

However, arsenic noted by PATH's filing, "there is nary implicit limit" successful New Brunswick erstwhile it comes to the fig of consecutive days an inmate whitethorn beryllium kept successful solitary confinement.

The state gave announcement of its intent to support against the enactment successful March 2023. A spokesperson declined to remark connected the lawsuit portion it's earlier the court.

Legal manager Emma Halpern said PATH is presently awaiting disclosure of plaintiff documentation from the province.