Officers walk in front of the Toronto South Detention Centre in Toronto on May 24, 2017.Mark Blinch/Reuters
A grieving Toronto family is demanding answers from Ontario corrections officials after their schizophrenic relative died from a severe beating at Toronto South Detention Centre.
Ibrahim Ali, 31, endured an assault by another prisoner on April 21, police said. He was in St. Michael’s Hospital for three days before a social worker informed the family of his whereabouts. By the time the family rushed to his side, doctors told them he had no chance of survival.
“He was there three days and no one told us,” said Yusuf Ali, 30, one of Mr. Ali’s six brothers. “We don’t know anything else: when they found them, how long he was in his cell, what happened, nothing. We need justice.”
The case raises new questions about a provincial jail that has been the subject of withering criticism from judges and bears troubling similarities to another recent provincial prison death.
“The system continues to be broken and vulnerable Ontarians continue to pay the price with their life,” said Yusuf Faqiri, whose brother, Soleiman, died at another provincial prison in 2016, after being shackled, pepper-sprayed and hit by correctional officers. The death sparked multiple police investigations into the officers’ actions that day and was deemed a homicide by a coroner’s inquest jury in December.
Like Soleiman Faqiri, Mr. Ali was a standout student in high school and went on to attend university for engineering. Also like Mr. Faqiri, he had to give up his studies because of a schizophrenia diagnosis.
Mr. Ali’s family said he had several non-violent encounters with police over the years that had always been dealt with by taking him to a mental-health facility.
But in March, 2023, he was arrested for theft of cigarettes from a convenience store near his family’s Etobicoke home and uttering a threat. Police allege in court documents that he continued to steal cigarettes from the store after he was released on bail. On one occasion, he was allegedly armed with a knife, something his brother finds implausible.
“My brother was an introverted guy who was good in school and kept his nose in books,” he said. “He never had a knife. When they arrested him, they found no knife.”
Mr. Ali continued to rack up charges for failing to appear for court dates and leaving his family home contrary to a court order.
“How was he supposed to keep the dates straight when he had a severe mental issue?” said Shamso Elmi, a family friend and co-founder of Mending a Crack in the Sky, a group that helps mothers navigate the criminal justice system.
Since October, Mr. Ali had been confined in a mental-health ward at Toronto South, which has been repeatedly condemned for constant lockdowns and conditions that one judge called “Dickensian.” The family visited him regularly, often bringing his favourite books. “He wanted anything to do with chemistry, biology and anything by John Grisham,” said his brother.
The family wanted him to engage a lawyer and enter some sort of mental-health diversion program, but Mr. Ali declined, opting to represent himself.
As of last month, the strategy appeared to be working. He was expected to plead out on April 26. But when the court contacted Toronto South Detention Centre for a video conference, a jail officer told the court he was “unfit” to participate in court and provided little further detail.
He was subsequently scheduled for fitness assessment in mental-health court on Monday. That’s when a correctional officer told the court by video that Mr. Ali was in hospital facing a grim prognosis owing to a jailhouse assault. He died later in hospital surrounded by family who correctional officers barred from taking any final photos with their dying relative.
“We were all a little shaken,” said Justice Kimberley Crosbie during a hearing on Wednesday at which the Crown withdrew all charges against Mr. Ali.
Justice Crosbie questioned Crown Attorney Julie Battersby about “conflicting information” the court may have received about Mr. Ali’s condition, apparently referring to being told he was unfit when his condition was far more dire.
“I just wanted to make sure as the leader of this court that I have the proper information about what transpired in terms of timelines,” explained Justice Crosbie, who called it a “very sad, tragic situation.”
The Ministry of the Solicitor General declined to comment on the matter owing to continuing investigations and referred all questions to Toronto police.
Late on Wednesday, Toronto police announced an attempted murder charge in relation to the incident against Samuel El Hasheem, 27, and said the charges are expected to be upgraded to first-degree murder.
Mr. Ali “was a bright, young man with some mental issues,” said Ms. Elmi, “and now he’s gone over some cigarettes. All this for cigarettes. I’m ashamed.”