A convicted killer is suing the Government for $500,000 over conditions at Westgate Correctional Facility.

Taaj Muhammad is seeking damages in a civil suit filed in the Supreme Court last month.

Muhammad claimed in the writ that a corrections officer told him and other inmates at Westgate in or about May 2018 that they should not have been housed in the area of the prison where they were being held. He added that he was moved from one pod to another “in or about January 2020” after an inmate committed suicide.

The suit also alleges that Muhammad was confined to his prison cell for 23 hours a day between about July 2020 and April 2022, the month he was sentenced to 35 years behind bars for murdering Boulevard Community Club footballer Ronniko Burchall and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

A jury found Muhammad guilty of committing the offences at St David’s County Cricket Club on December 29, 2018.

The writ, filed in person, lists the Attorney-General of Bermuda as the defendant.

It also stated that the ceiling in Muhammad’s cell leaked in about September 2020, which had “inadequate or ineffective ventilation”, and that he was again placed into a room that leaked whenever it rained in approximately May 2024.

The claim further alleges that Muhammad was again confined to his cell for 23 hours a day when he lost privileges for about eight months from about July 2024.

The writ stated that Muhammad was repeatedly unwell in about March 2023.

“His recurring condition was sufficiently apparent that Officer Butterfield was requested to provide him with a nasal flush bottle,” it said.

“Despite the plaintiff’s recurrent illnesses and complaints, reasonable and adequate steps were not taken to investigate and remedy the conditions adversely affecting his health.”

The claim added: “The plaintiff relies upon the cumulative and continuing effect on the inadequate ventilation, prolonged cellular confinement, recurring illness and failure to adequately respond to his health and welfare needs.”

It argued that the Crown, through its servants and/or agents, owed Muhammad “duties to take reasonable care for his safety, physical health and welfare and to provide reasonably safe and sanitary conditions of detention”.

The suit said the defendant was liable, according to the Crown Proceedings Act 1966, for the “tortious acts and omissions of the relevant services and/or agents of the Crown”.

It alleged that the defendants were negligent by failing to provide reasonable safe and sanitary accommodations, ventilate the areas where Muhammad was detained, provide proper medical investigation or treatment and adequately respond to his recurrent illness.

The writ also claims the defendant was negligent by allowing Muhammad to stay in “leaking and inadequately maintained accommodations”, not adequately investigating and addressing “known environmental conditions adversely affecting” him, subjecting him to prolonged conditions “detrimental to his physical health and welfare” and failing to take reasonable steps after becoming aware, or ought to have been aware, of how those conditions affected him.

The writ then said the defendant otherwise failed to “exercise reasonable care for the plaintiff while he remained entirely within the custody and control of the Department of Corrections”.

It claimed that this negligence caused Muhammad to suffer “pain, illness, psychological discomfort, loss of amenity and the consequences of prolonged exposure to inadequate custodial conditions and inadequate medical attention”.

Muhammad is seeking $500,000 in damages, costs and interest according to “statute and/or the inherent jurisdiction of the court” and further relief as the court considers just.

A government spokesman said the Ministry of Justice was aware of the legal proceedings and it would be inappropriate to comment on specific allegations because the matter was before the courts.

He added: “The Government takes its responsibilities concerning the welfare and care of persons in its custody seriously.

“The Government has been systematically addressing the issues in relation to the state of the ageing [Westgate] facility and the work environment for officers as well as the living conditions for inmates.”

The spokesman added that these issues were the subject of a report by the Detention Standards Review Panel, tabled in the Senate in May.

Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said at the time that the 41-page report documented “years of underinvestment and a gap between the standards we are bound to meet and the conditions that have, in some areas, been allowed to persist”.

She said the 75 recommendations within the report, combined with a clear plan and a “commitment to improve this system”, were driving “sustained, essential work of institutional reform”.

Ms Wilkerson said last month that 27 of the 75 recommendations from the panel had been implemented and 29 were in the planning stage.

She said reform would continue until Bermuda had “a correctional system that is safe, humane and purposeful”.

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