Mom of inmate who died from overdose files lawsuit

The mother of a Stony Mountain inmate who overdosed has filed a lawsuit that alleges his death was caused by the deterioration of his mental health after he was placed in isolation following a deadly riot weeks earlier.

Ricardo Pereira, 23, was serving an eight-year sentence for break-and-enter and aggravated assault, among other offences, when he overdosed on methadone in the federal prison north of Winnipeg on Sept. 5, 2023.

Dawna La Rose filed a lawsuit this month on behalf of her son’s estate in which she names the Correctional Services of Canada and the federal attorney general as defendants. Neither defendant has responded in court.

“In the time leading up to Ricardo’s death and ongoing to the present, (Stony Mountain) had been in the throes of a long period of violence, contraband and several inmate deaths,” the lawsuit says.

Pereira’s fatal overdose took place seven weeks after a riot between as many as 50 armed rival gang members in the exercise yard on July 17, 2023. Seven were injured and one inmate, a 33-year-old convicted killer, was slain.

Pereira was housed in a maximum-security unit at the time.

On July 23, he was accused of threatening corrections emergency responders as they searched his unit and moved inmates owing to “various security concerns” in response to the riot, the document says.

The suit says Pereira was transferred to a confined cell, referred to as a structured intervention unit, in which he was isolated from other inmates for most of each day.

Under federal policy, the inmates are supposed to get what’s called “meaningful” contact with other people for two hours a day.

The units replaced solitary confinement in 2019, following court rulings that deemed prolonged isolation unconstitutional.

“The duration for an inmate’s confinement in (structured intervention) is meant to end as soon as possible as prolonged stays can have harmful psychological and physical effects,” the lawsuit says.

On July 25, Pereira was transferred to the federal prison in Edmonton, owing to alleged threats, the court papers claim, where he was placed in a confinement cell because of his ties to the Manitoba Warriors gang, who have rivals in the Alberta prison.

Other inmates from Stony were transferred there on July 31 and Pereira was taken out of confinement for a time, because he was considered compatible with them, the court filing says.

Later, he was transferred back to Stony for a court appearance on Aug. 29, and told his aunt the trip was a “14-hour drive with no food or drink,” the court papers say.

On Sept. 4, the lawsuit claims, Pereira was meant to have a visit with his mother, but all visits were cancelled following an incident in his unit.

“This was upsetting for Ricardo, and as a means to cope with his disappointment, he decided to get high,” the court filing says.

He drank a bottle of methadone — a synthetic opioid often used to treat addiction to other opioids — that morning, leading to an overdose, the court documents say.

He was given opioid-reversing naloxone and taken to the emergency department at the hospital in Stonewall, but was discharged and taken back to the prison at about 7 p.m., the court filing claims.

Pereira called his mother late that evening and spoke with her for close to an hour, claiming that corrections officers had been “giving him a hard time” and planned to deny his visit earlier that day, the suit says.

He sounded like he was still high and seemed “very emotional and unstable,” the court papers claim. After he hung up, he was returned to his structured intervention unit.

About an hour later, Pereira was found unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at 2 a.m. the following day.

The court papers say his mother was informed it was due to the overdose.

The lawsuit alleges his death was reasonably foreseeable by federal officials, but they failed to monitor the health of inmates in isolation cells, failed to observe that Pereira’s confinement was having an effect on his health and failed to consider his health needs.

It claims the prison did not have adequate policies, training or supervision concerning health care issues and how inmates are placed, transferred or confined.

The suit, which accuses officials of negligence and breach of duty to protect Pereira, seeks unspecified damages.

The court filing says Pereira was born in Regina and had roots in Lake Manitoba First Nation and Birdtail Sioux First Nation.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca