A Yellowknife teenager who nearly stabbed a drug dealer to death, stole his marijuana and beat up a jail guard at the North Slave Correctional Complex (NSCC) has been sentenced to four and a half years in a federal prison.
Jordan Charlie, 19, was handed his punishment in territorial court in Yellowknife on Friday after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, robbery and assaulting a peace officer.
Court heard Charlie was held in a “secure” unit for months before he viciously punched and kicked the jail guard in the head repeatedly in a locked hallway.
It happened while he was being escorted back to his cell following a video court appearance last May.
Security video of the beating was played in court.
The attack only ended after another jail guard became aware of the commotion, stepped in and pepper-sprayed Charlie.
The guard was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Stanton Territorial Hospital.
Charlie was not in handcuffs at that time but was in cuffs in the courtroom on Friday which is extremely rare for prisoners in court in Yellowknife.
He was also not allowed to sit with his lawyer and remained in the prisoner’s box until he was led away by an RCMP officer following the sentencing hearing.
Besides the Mountie there were also two court security guards in the courtroom throughout the proceedings where there is usually only one.
Court heard that Charlie had been held in segregation at NSCC since he was arrested after the stabbing.
It’s believed that meant Charlie had been kept segregated from other inmates.
A Justice Dept. official insists they do not use what’s known as solitary confinement at NSCC.
Solitary confinement is something that prisoner advocates and mental health experts say does far more psychological harm to an inmate’s rehabilitation than good and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
It’s not clear why Charlie was put in segregation when he was first incarcerated at NSCC.
Charlie was in jail after he was arrested and charged with stabbing the weed dealer in the neck with a knife and stealing two grams, $40 worth of pot from him in the middle of the night in downtown Yellowknife in March.
Court heard the victim lost two litres of blood before emergency surgery to tie off an artery at Stanton Territorial Hospital.
He had been driven to hospital by a cab driver after blood was shooting about three feet out from his wound.
He was then medevaced to an Edmonton hospital and has suffered permanent nerve damage which has affected his speech and his ability to eat.
Court heard Charlie was arrested days later after he confessed to the crime over the phone to a victim services worker.
He had also told his social services case worker in Nunavut just days before the downtown attack that he was thinking of stabbing someone, court heard.
Charlie, who has been diagnosed with mental illness, grew up in Nunavut but was removed by that territory’s government from his parents at age one due to alcoholism and violence in the home, court heard.
He has been in foster care virtually ever since.
Court heard the one thing that Charlie liked and was able to do in jail in Yellowknife was draw but that he couldn’t even do that after prison officials took away his only pencil.
Charlie must also supply a sample of his DNA for the national data bank and is banned from possessing a firearm for 20 years upon his release from prison.
Neither of his victims attended court for the sentencing.
Taking into account his pre-trial custody, Charlie will have about three years and eight months left to serve.
CKLB reached out to NWT Justice Department officials for an explanation as to why Charlie had been kept in segregation for so long but did not receive a response.
Sue Glowach, the department’s senior communications advisor, has told CKLB that she does not work on Fridays.
