It was the news Yusuf Faqiri and his family have been waiting seven years for — justification that Soleiman Faqiri‘s death was wrongful.
On Tuesday, a jury told the Coroner’s counsel they deemed his death a homicide. The decision holds no legal weight as police would have to make the choice to reopen the case, but it’s validation for his family that Faqiri’s death was preventable.
“It’s the first time in seven years that my brother was seen and heard,” said Yusuf, his older brother.
“There was just a little bit … of a semblance of peace that my precious brother was given,” he said.
The family has been searching for answers for years regarding his time in custody. The 30-year-old who lived with schizophrenia was incarcerated for 11 days at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay back in December of 2016.
Faqiri’s brother said at no time was the man taken to see a doctor and was awaiting a psych evaluation, but never made it.
Soleiman died after a violent struggle with corrections officers while they were bringing him back to his segregation cell from the showers. During the inquest, the jury heard there were more than 60 policy violations the night he died.
The family was never able to visit him while he was incarcerated, either. Faqiri says this had a major impact on the situation as he didn’t have his medication.
That’s something the jury is hoping will change, calling for greater communication and more compassionate support for family members of prisoners with mental health issues, including the designation of a family liaison to keep them updated and act as a point of contact.
“We have to understand that when people with mental illness, when they’re in acute psychiatric crisis, they shouldn’t even be here,” he said.
“You have a proactive family that was trying to be there to support him. We tried to visit him four times. And my father gave the medications, right? And none of that. It seems like nobody even heard us.“
Presiding officer of the inquest, Dr. David Cameron, read out the verdict, saying:
“In their review, jurors deemed the cause of death to be from positional restraints and musculocutaneous injuries sustained during struggle, exertion and pepper foam exposure in the setting of cardiomegaly and worsening symptoms of schizophrenia.”
The results culminating thoughts the Faqiri family had for years. Charges were never laid after the incident. His family is asking for that to change.
“I don’t know what else is … left for us to see that there should be criminal accountability, it’s a case of public interest. And Canadians, I’m sure, are asking the same question,” said Faqiri.
The jury has put forward 57 recommendations that focus on several pillars including health care, mental health services in corrections, training and use of force. They are also asking the province to create an “Inspectorate” for corrections, a move the Faqiri family commends.
“I think there’s an opportunity to create accountability mechanisms that if there’s any contraventions or anything that happens. This watchdog can go and have the appropriate tools.”
The “inspectorate”, independent from the province, would have the authority to launch its own investigations into individual and systemic issues involving Ontario’s correctional and detention centres. Jurors also recommended creating better relationships between institutions and psychiatric hospitals, and ensuring those with mental health issues are assessed within 24 hours of a court order or remand. Faqiri never received an assessment during his time at the facility.
“I think this inquest did its job. It showed the facts. The truth came out. Now the onus is on the Ontario government to do the right thing and for them to transform corrections, because how many more lives do we need to lose for this system to be transformed?” said Faqiri.
The inquest heard that over the 11 days Soleiman was in jail, his condition worsened. The situation prompting former Sgt. Clark Moss to capture video showing the man in his cell. The video showing him covered in feces, flooding his cell and yelling. The sergeant said in his testimony he wanted to keep evidence of Faqiri’s deteriorating mental state, proving he didn’t belong in the facility.
The union representing corrections officers, Ontario Public Service Employees Union or OPSEU opposed the idea of homicide last week and asked for the death to be deemed accidental.
In a statement Tuesday, the union said it would be reviewing the verdict and recommendations in the coming days.
“We believe that many of the recommendations, if implemented, would prevent further deaths in custody,” the union said, adding that it has been making many of the same recommendations to the Ministry of the Solicitor General for years.
Yusuf, says after seven years of fighting — he believes they can finally move forward.
“He is at peace and his honor and his dignity was protected. And I think this is what we take solace in, even if Sol is no longer with us. I hope that this tragedy can be the start of something that other families don’t have to go through what we went through,” he said.
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