LONDON, ON, Dec. 1, 2025 /CNW/ - Are you a Black person who experienced physical or emotional and psychological abuse while in a federal jail between April 17, 1985 and December 13, 2023? A lawsuit may affect you. Please read this carefully.
What is this case about? The lawsuit says Correctional Services Canada (CSC) has negligently permitted or failed to prevent the Abuse of Black Inmates in federal prisons, which includes: (1) unauthorized application of physical force by CSC Staff; (2) racialized verbal abuse directed by CSC Staff; (3) confinement in administrative segregation or a structured intervention unit; (4) assault or racialized verbal abuse by non-Black inmates that CSC Staff permitted to occur or unreasonably failed to prevent or intervene in.
Who is included and how do I sign up? All Black persons who claim Abuse, as defined above, while incarcerated in a CSC jail at any time between April 17, 1985 and December 13, 2023, and who were alive on December 23, 2023 (the "Class") are included automatically, unless they opt out (see below). You do not need to sign up to join the Class. There is no money available now and no guarantee there will ever be any. If money is awarded, notices will be posted in prisons about how to ask for a share. If you are not in prison now, you can sign up to receive those notices by email or mail (see below).
What are my options?
Stay in: To stay in the class action, you do not have to do anything. You will be legally bound by all orders and judgments, good and bad, and you will not be able to sue CSC about the legal claims in this case.
Get out: To get out of the class action, you must do so by February 20, 2026. You will not get any money or benefits from this class action (if any are awarded) but you will be allowed to start or continue your own lawsuit about the legal claims in this case (subject to any applicable time limitation periods). To get out, you must send an Opt-Out Form to the postal or email address below by February 20, 2026 (mail postmark date or email sent date). You can get an Opt-Out Form at www.BlackPrisonJustice.ca or by contacting the Notice Administrator RicePoint Administration Inc., d/b/a Verita Global at AAGQ Notice Provider, P.O. Box 3355, London, ON N6A 4K3.
Additional details: The representative plaintiff is Abel Araya. The law firm of Avize Law Group acts as lawyers for the Class. They will be paid legal costs only if the lawsuit is successful, in an amount approved by the Court, or from a cost award for a successful motion. You may participate and hire your own lawyer to appear for you, but if you do, you may have to pay that lawyer.
How can I get more information? Go to www.BlackPrisonJustice.ca, call toll-free 1-888-808-8951 (TTY: 1-888-808-8951), or write to AAGQ Notice Provider, P.O. Box 3355, London, ON N6A 4K3, or by email at: [email protected]. Future notices will be posted in prisons. To receive future notices by email or to postal addresses outside of prison, go to www.BlackPrisonJustice.ca or email your name, birth date, and contact information to [email protected].
SOURCE Avize Law Group
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