3 years behind bars for a dispute… over applesauce

A drug dealer who beat up guards following a spat over applesauce will have to spend three more years behind bars.

Akim Bilodeau-Joseph, now 25 years old, was incarcerated at the Rivière-des-Prairies establishment when he attacked two correctional officers. He will serve a total of 9 years in the penitentiary, counting the five for drug trafficking as well as one more year for a breach of condition.

“Violence against peace officers working in prisons must not only be denounced, but also be deterred by the imposition of severe penalties,” we can read in the decision of Judge Pierre Dupras.

By imposing this sentence, Judge Pierre Dupras hopes to suppress this violence from the prison population in general as well as the inmate specifically. Because in his case, deterrence “appears far from being acquired”.

The offender’s “numerous criminal history of violence” is cited as an aggravating factor, as are the severity of the injuries and the targets of peace officers.

One of the officers left the profession and became hypervigilant after suffering a concussion, whiplash and facial bruising.

The other goalkeeper suffered several facial fractures, causing persistent loss of sensitivity in his teeth as well as bruising and pain.

A story about applesauce

In a previous judgment, the criminal said he would remember this guard after a spat with an agent during a food distribution that culminated in applesauce being spilled on him.

This is probably what happened since he later attacked the agent in question and one of his colleagues.

“The guards did not open the cells due to lack of staff,” underlines Vicky Powell, Bilodeau-Joseph’s lawyer. She is concerned about the tensions generated by prolonged isolation in cells, without excusing the aggression.

“My client says that it was one of the agents who pushed the compote, but that is not the version that the judge accepted.”

Sales of prohibited weapons

Bilodeau-Joseph pleaded guilty to selling prohibited or restricted weapons to secret SPVM agents, as well as a prohibited high-capacity magazine.

He made the same plea for having been in possession of a prohibited weapon when he was prohibited from doing so following an order as well as for having trafficked in codeine syrup.

The judge underlines with concern the “proliferation” of the use of firearms, which he describes as a “disastrous and calamitous scourge”.

In 2021, the year the crimes were committed, 152 incidents involving firearms were recorded in Montreal.