'It was hell': Former inmate sues N.B. government over segregation, access to meds

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3 months ago
'it-was-hell':-former-inmate-sues-nb.-government-over-segregation,-access-to-meds'It was hell': Former inmate sues N.B. government over segregation, access to meds

Every so often, Eric Robichaud dreams about being trapped in a small, grey room — cut off from other people, with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling. 

When he wakes up, Robichaud is horrified to remember that this dream was his waking reality for five months at a New Brunswick jail in 2016.

The former inmate, who lives with anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, said his mental health quickly deteriorated.

“It was hell,” Robichaud said.

He describes the segregation cell he occupied at the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre in Shediac as windowless and cold. 

Robichaud said his segregation stemmed from staff concerns about his taking his anxiety medication while in the general population.

The 39-year-old Baie-Sainte-Anne resident is now a lead plaintiff in a 2023 potential class action lawsuit against the province following his experience in 2016.

Though his time in segregation at the Shediac jail was almost a decade ago, CBC News has learned that lack of access to health services and medications in jail is a persistent complaint to the New Brunswick ombud. 

Varied access

In 2014 and 2015, Robichaud was an inmate at the Dalhousie Correctional Centre and Madawaska Correctional Centre after being sentenced for attempted robbery. 

At both jails, he was able to take a prescribed benzodiazepine — a common sedative prescribed for anxiety — without issue.

But this changed, Robichaud said, when he was remanded to the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre in 2016 on two assault charges. 

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