Yukon court finds Michael Nehass unfit to stand trial

A Yukon Supreme Court judge has found Michael Nehass mentally unfit to stand trial, meaningan immediate halt to the Crown's application to have him declared a dangerous offender.

Yukon Justice Scott Brooker read his decision today.

"Mr.Nehassis clearly mentally ill and has been for a number of years," he said."In recent years there is an escalating element of psychosis."

Brooker said Nehass' delusions about conspiracies are clouding his ability to understand the legal process, therefore, it would be "fundamentally unfair" to continue treating Nehass as a regular inmate.

It's unclear what will happen next. Court reconvenes tomorrow.

Yukon director of corrections calls care 'inadequate'

Nehass has a lengthy criminal record. Most recently he spentmore than three years in remand before he was convicted of forcible confinement and assault with a weapon in 2015. The Crown applied to have him declared a dangerous offender. The court ordered a psychiatric assessment tobe done.

• After 5 years, Michael Nehass to exit Whitehorse Correctional Centre

Today Yukon's Director of Corrections Patricia Ratel was called as a witness.She agreed the Whitehorse facility is "not adequate" for someone who is mentally ill.

She added that jail staff are often inexperienced in dealing with mental illness. However she said the facility had no choice but to house Nehass.

"We help people to the extent we have the resources. Is it enough? No," she said.

Ratel said staff had been calling across Canadatrying to find an available bed for Nehass in a psychiatric hospital since 2015 without success.

"It's a systemic issue," she said. "Nobody wants to take a remanded-status inmate from another jurisdiction."

'If they are refusingtreatment there's nothing we can do'

One central issue to the case is treatment and consent.

Under Canadian law, only psychiatric hospitals can enforce medical treatment orders for mental illnesssuch as forcing a person to take medicine.

Nehasscontinues to deny he is mentally ill.Therefore, despite repeated rants about mind control, delusions and a propensity to mood swings and violence, he was allowed to refuse medication at Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

• Yukon inmate Michael Nehass wants 'international lawyer' for dangerous offender hearing

The Supreme Court heard this allowed his condition to deteriorate and forced the jail to keep Nehass in segregation to protect other inmates.

Assaults, arson and vandalism offences incurred at Whitehorse Correctional Centre have added to the Crown's submission for dangerous offenderstatus.

"At Whitehorse Correctional we cannot help people without their consent. If they are refusing treatmentthere's nothing we can do," Ratel said.

Ratel defended the jail's use of segregation on Nehass, saying staff made efforts to engage him in programming, which he refused.

She added that the facility allowed Nehass to have personal belongings and make phone calls while segregated, which are not usually allowed in segregation units. She described the segregation unit as identical to a regular cell,but kept separate.

"We had very little options other than isolation," she said.

Corrections asks government forfull-time psychiatric nurse

Ratel said her department needs more resources to help mentally ill inmates.

She said she is writing a submission to the new territorial government which requests a full-time psychiatric nurse and social worker at Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

"More and more people with mental health problems end up in jail," she said.

She added the facility is "in no way, shape or form, a hospital."