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“The treatment of the accused was, in my opinion, outrageous, abhorrent, and inhumane,” Fregeau wrote in his Jan. 28 decision. “There would be ongoing prejudice to the accused if forced to proceed to trial.”

Fregeau’s ruling outlined a litany of difficult circumstances Capay faced beginning during his turbulent childhood on the Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

The treatment of the accused was, in my opinion, outrageous, abhorrent, and inhumane. There would be ongoing prejudice to the accused if forced to proceed to trial

Capay grew up in a family dominated by substance abuse and violence, the judge said. Capay was repeatedly sexually abused as a child, exposed to alcohol at age seven and had inhaled solvents by age eight, Fregeau wrote. Capay’s father once tried to force his son to kill him when he was 10, the judge added.

Fregeau’s ruling said Capay was placed in segregation at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre immediately after his 2012 attack on Quisses.

Between June 4, 2012 and Dec. 6, 2016, Capay was largely kept in isolation for 23 hours a day.

For much of that time, Capay languished in cells where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day. For long stretches, the detention blocks he was held in did not allow him to flush the toilet from inside the cell.

Over his four and a half years in segregation, Fregeau found Capay received less than 11 hours of mental health support from jail staff.

Capay’s long-standing isolation was known to correctional officials, who repeatedly signed off on extending his time in segregation even as the total number of days climbed up over the 1,600 mark.