By THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER, B.C. – A man charged in a massacre that claimed six lives in Surrey, B.C., says he is getting cold food in prison and has no pillow on his bed.
Twenty-three-year-old Jamie Bacon is being held in the Surrey Pre-trial Centre awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in the slayings in a Surrey highrise two years ago. Two of the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Bacon also faces an additional charge of first-degree murder in one of the killings.
He’s gone to court claiming his constitutional rights are being violated because he was held in solitary confinement, his mail is not being handled properly and visits and telephone access are too restrictive.
Bacon, who also told the court that his food is cold and he has no pillow, wants to be put into the general prison population at the jail.
Lawyer Michael Shapray, who is not connected with the case, said Monday the motivation behind the complaint is unclear.
"Prisoners do have certain rights, and have be treated with certain dignities and they do have to be treated equally to a certain extent," he said.
Shapray said the government still hasn’t said why Bacon is being held under those conditions.
"There are cases where high profile people who are accused of high profile offences are kept in protective custody for their own safety," he said.
"And it may very well be that the government has some information to suggest that the person has been the subject of threats or death threats."
Police have said Bacon and his two bothers are members of a gang that was involved in a bloody turf war in Metro Vancouver.
Meanwhile, two of Bacon’s Co-accused, Cody Rae Haevischer and Matthew Johnson, are asking the province to pay for their legal bills during the trial.