Ontario drug offender released after prison conditions ruled 'unusually harsh,' to serve remainder of the sentence from home
Because of the “unusually harsh” conditions he endured at Ontario’s Maplehurst Correctional Complex, a three-judge appeal court panel decided a man can continue to serve the remainder of his sentence on drug crimes from the comfort of home.
In a decision published recently , the Appeal Court of Ontario justices said the two-year custodial sentence handed down to Mohammad Oryia for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000 “was fit when imposed.”
But upon reviewing the fresh evidence from Oryia’s time at the maximum and medium security prison in Milton, they ruled “continued incarceration would exceed what is necessary to achieve the purposes of sentencing,” wrote Chief Justice Michael Tulloch.
“The objectives of denunciation and deterrence have been substantially met.”
Oryia immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan as an infant in 2001, the youngest of five kids who grew up “taking pride in his Afghan heritage,” but was bullied over his race at school and turned to “negative peers” instead of addressing his resulting anxiety and depression.
“Family members and a close friend attributed his eventual involvement in criminal activity to this period of vulnerability,” the judge wrote.
In late 2020, police stopped Oryia’s car and found 150 grams of cocaine, more than $72,000 cash, a safe, brass knuckles, and items consistent with trafficking within.
Oryia, 19 at the time, was staying in the bedroom of a 17-year-old “associate” where police found more trafficking paraphernalia, “including cutting agents, scales, a safe containing cocaine and cash, weapons such as a rifle and pellet gun, and a cookie tin containing 600 grams of cocaine bearing the appellant’s fingerprint.”
He quickly entered a guilty plea and spent close to three years without incident under “strict bail conditions” before his sentencing in February 2024.
At sentencing, Crown attorneys asked Ontario Court of Justice Judge Dominique Kennedy for two years, despite acknowledging Oryia was a fit candidate for the conditional sentence of two years less a day that defence counsel was seeking.
In deciding on the bottom end of the custodial range for the crimes, Kennedy ruled “that the quantity of cocaine, the significant proceeds, and the broader trafficking context indicated organized, profit-driven conduct, rather than behaviour attributable solely to peer influence.”
Before being granted bail and strict house arrest pending the outcome of his appeal, Maplehurst was Oryia’s home for much of his 315 total days in custody, 223 of which were spent in a cell designed for two but housing three, “requiring him to sleep on a mattress placed on the floor beside the toilet.”
“He reports that the mattress was often placed directly on concrete, with limited bedding, and that he was initially provided with bloodstained sheets,” the judge explained.
About 40 per cent of his incarcerated time was spent under one of the frequent lockdowns, “including 96 extended periods of full lockdown,” during which he couldn’t leave his cell and had restricted access to showers, clean clothes, laundry, yard time and communal areas.
“He also reports exposure to institutional violence, including witnessing serious assaults, and being physically intimidated and assaulted by other inmates,” Tulloch wrote.
Combined with his past of being racially bullied and depression, Oryia’s counsel argued on appeal that “these conditions had a pronounced psychological impact on him.”
The judge unanimously agreed that the fresh evidence was admissible within the legal framework of considering whether prison conditions are having an “acute effect” on a prisoner.
“In this case, the cumulative impact of the appellant’s custodial experience materially increased the punitive effect of the sentence.”
The judges decided the lockdowns and sleeping situation were “mitigating factors” on their own, regardless of Oryia’s experience, and they agreed he was at risk of experiencing “incarceration more harshly than others” due to his documented mental health history.
“Sentences must remain proportionate in their real-world effect,” said Tulloch.
Factoring in the 315 days in prison and 32 days of pre-sentence credit, Oryia has 382 days of house arrest remaining on his conditional sentence.
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