Criminal Law - Prisons and prisoners - Miscellaneous
Damages suffered in prison. Accused was convicted of first degree murder and imposed life sentence in prison . Accused filed several grievances concerning his detention conditions in prison . Parole officer and liaison officer found out that accused had helped inmate to prepare his own grievance . Parole officer and liaison officer told inmate to stop hanging around with accused . Accused considered parole officer and liaison officer caused him to suffer various prejudices . Accused unsuccessfully brought action seeking compensatory and punitive damages from federal government . Accused appealed. Appeal dismissed. Accused did not show that Federal Court erred in dismissing his action for damages . It was clear claim was rejected for lack of evidence not error in assessment of facts . Judge did not make palpable and overriding error in his interpretation of decision at third level of grievance because it was entirely open to consider that grievance was upheld not because harassment had been established but because process at first level had not allowed accused to make case. Federal Court was not bound by this decision as decision on grievance could not be res judicata in context of action for damages since notion of harassment in Correctional Service Canada guidelines was not necessarily same as one that prevailed in civil law.
Timm c. Canada (2019), 2019 CarswellNat 6012, 2019 CAF 279, Richard Boivin J.A., Yves de Montigny J.A., and Mary J.L. Gleason J.A. (F.C.A.); affirmed (2019), 2019 CarswellNat 1678, 2019 CarswellNat 589, 2019 FC 238, 2019 CF 238, Sébastien Grammond J. (F.C.).
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