A BC veteran with PTSD has been awarded $15,000 after the Human Rights Tribunal found he was discriminated against while in segregation in prison.

It’s not known what Ashton Dayries is alleged to have done to land him at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre, but the Tribunal ruled its treatment of him in the first 24 hours of his incarceration was discriminatory.

“Incarcerated individuals must be able to access Corrections’ services in a discrimination-free way that maintains their dignity and humanity,” the Tribunal said in a Sept. 1 decision.

The decision said that when Dayries arrived at the jail, he was placed on suicide watch and put in a cell in “deplorable” condition.

“The cell was ‘covered in bodily fluids.’ There were blood, urine, and vomit stains as well as rodents and their droppings. The light in his cell never turned off, and he was not given a pillow, which he needed for a back injury,” the decision read. “Mr. Dayries did not receive food, water, or his psychiatric medications during this period.”

Dayries, who served in Afghanistan, began to feel unsafe, which triggered his PTSD and gave him an anxiety attack. He pressed the emergency call button but was told to “fuck off” and “tell somebody who cares” by the corrections officer.

“I don’t know what you want me to do about it, I’m just a voice in the wall,” the officer said, mocking him.

Less than 24 hours later, he was seen by a psychologist who confirmed he wasn’t at risk for self-harm and transferred him to another unit where he was kept in solitary confinement.

As it was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was kept there for 14 days before going into the general population of the prison.

Dayries, who is Métis and a Buddhist, claimed he was discriminated against by being kept in solitary confinement and denied a spiritual visit from an elder.

However, the Tribunal dismissed both those claims but sided with him on his first introduction to prison.

The Tribunal ruled that he came into the jail with preexisting anxiety and PTSD, but was denied his medication and placed alone in a filthy cell, which led to a panic attack. He was then mocked while he was in crisis, which caused his disabilities to get worse, the Tribunal said.

“Corrections did not treat Mr. Dayries with dignity and created barriers to his safe incarceration based on the disabilities that he entered with. I am satisfied that Mr. Dayries’s experience on suicide watch caused a disability-related adverse impact on him,” the Tribunal ruled.

Ultimately, the Tribunal ordered BC Corrections to pay Dayries $15,000 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect.