HIs Death
Soleiman struggled with taking his medication regularly. He was taken into custody 10 times under Ontario’s Mental Health Act, but he did not have a criminal record. After each of these arrests, the police took Soleiman to a doctor–December 4, 2016 was different. On that day, Soli’s arresting officers brought him to the notorious Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario.
The guards placed Soli in segregation while he awaited a mental health assessment. Also known as “solitary confinement,” segregation isolates prisoners and subjects them to unstructured days, causing tremendous stress and depriving them of meaningful social contact. Segregation is known to severely exacerbate the symptoms of mental illness, and is considered by the UN as a form of “torture” when applied to mentally ill prisoners.
While Soleiman was being held at the prison, his family was not allowed to visit or contact him. The Faqiris physically tried to see him on 4 separate occasions, but were denied access each time.
On December 12, 2016, a judge ordered that Soli be transferred to the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, where he could receive appropriate mental health treatment. However, the judge’s order was never respected. Soleiman was kept in the correctional centre and died at the hands of prison guards only 3 days after the judge’s decision.
