Ivan Henry: British Columbia; "Ivan Henry will never experience ‘normalcy’; Torment continues even after being freed, psychologist testifies." ..." Henry believes the government is “merely stalling” and waiting for him to die. His claim to damages is being diminished with the suggestion that he was damaged goods, a recidivist with big problems already headed for the penitentiary before any wrongful conviction." Ian Mulgrew. Vancouver Sun.

"How do we measure loss — the withdrawal of a lover’s touch, the dissipation of youth, the vanished joy of parenthood, the family rituals never shared — the absent memories that should be the touchstones of a life? A month after the wrongful conviction compensation trial for Ivan Henry began, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson confronted a key issue Wednesday: the emotional and psychological cost to the man. “I didn’t get old naturally,” Henry told his therapist. Police “stole” almost 30 years of his life and left him “to rot in prison.” Psychologist Rami Nader, who has treated the now 69-year-old in more than 120 sessions since his release, who probably knows Henry better than Henry knows himself, says therapy has been “largely unsuccessful.” And that’s “unlikely to change,” he said. Henry remains preoccupied with time lost — not a remembrance of times past, but regret for time unshared — two daughters’ childhoods, the passing of a wife and the death of a beloved mother. Convicted of 10 sexual offences that occurred in Vancouver between 1981 and 1982, Henry was pronounced a dangerous offender when he was 35 and sentenced to an indefinite prison term on Nov. 23, 1983. He was freed, declared acquitted at 63. In an 11-page expert report, Nader said Henry emerged from the crucible of prison feeling “dehumanized” by 27 years of strip searches, assaults, being spit on, having his bed defecated on, witnessing people being killed and suicides. Since his release, the therapist said, Henry has endured panic attacks, depression, insomnia and too often found solace in a cocktail of alcohol, marijuana and Clonazepam.........Initially, Henry was hopeful compensation would come “relatively quickly and that he could begin to move forward with his life,” but he has become “more and more frustrated and disappointed. Henry believes the government is “merely stalling” and waiting for him to die. His claim to damages is being diminished with the suggestion that he was damaged goods, a recidivist with big problems already headed for the penitentiary before any wrongful conviction."

http://www.vancouversun.com/mulgrew+ivan+henry+will+never+experience+normalcy/11403826/story.html?__lsa=2ca2-59f6