Why putting spit hoods on people is risky — and can be deadly

On christmastime Eve 2022, Sarafina Dennie was preparing a holiday repast for her fellowship when she got a sound call in informing her that her brother was in hospital.

Shortly after she arrived at his bedside, Nicous D’André Spring, 21, was pronounced dead.

Initially, the family had little information about the circumstances leading to his death. Spring had spent the past few days behind bars at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail, where he’d been taken after being arrested for breaking a court-ordered curfew.

At the time of his death, Spring was being illegally detained. The previous day, Dec. 23, 2022, a judge had ordered his release. 

What happened next was only revealed when reporters obtained internal staff incident reports. 

Guards describe Spring, who’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia, as unstable and having difficulty managing his emotions. 

A fight broke out with another inmate and correctional officers intervened. Guards pepper-sprayed the young man and forced him into a spit hood, a head covering made of mesh and fabric that first responders put on people to protect themselves from being spit on. 

Handcuffed and hooded, Spring was thrown into a shower, where he was pepper-sprayed once more. When staff took him to his cell, they realized Spring was no longer breathing.  

The case made headlines, fuelling questions about use of force and the tools guards may use in detention. 

“I had never heard of a spit hood,” said Dennie. €œThe only thing I could do was hire lawyers.”

Across Canada, training and policies governing use of these devices are inconsistent and sometimes non-existent, the investigation also found.

This is worrisome, says crisis intervention expert Michael Arruda.

“If not used properly, [spit hoods] might cause damage or even death.”

Invented in the late 1990s, the spit mask — or spit hood — is a face covering made of mesh, sometimes combined with a layer of permeable fabric. It is draped over the heads of people who spit or threaten to do so to protect first responders from unwanted bodily fluids.

At the time, advertising branded it a “fast, easy, inexpensive way to protect you and your fellow officers from possible illnesses and the uncomfortable feeling of being spit on.”

Spit hoods have since been adopted by a large number of police forces, detention centres, correctional facilities and some hospitals across North America and around the world. 

However, this device is not without risk. In fact, it is written directly on the packaging of certain models that improper use can lead to serious injury or even death.

Experts fear the 17 deaths identified by the fifth estate and Enquête are the tip of the iceberg, not only because it is difficult to obtain information about deaths that occur in custody or during arrests but also because several institutions — including the RCMP and the Correctional Service of Canada — do not compile comprehensive data on the use of spit masks.

“Corrections officers may not record that they used spit hoods, gloves or any sort of restraint,” said Lindsay Jennings, a researcher who works for Tracking Injustice, a Canadian organization actively keeping tabs on deaths that occur during arrests or in detention. 

“All of this stuff is being buried and being kept a secret," said Jennings.

Across the country, the training and policies governing this tool are inconsistent, flawed or sometimes non-existent, creating a patchwork of regulation that experts say puts the public at risk.

Despite their ubiquitous use, the fifth estate and Enquête found no federal or provincial authority has independently verified spit hoods are effective and safe, instead relying on the manufacturer's safety guarantees and studies experts say are flawed. 

They’re easy to obtain and can be purchased for less than $30, online and in tactical gear stores. 

Retired Montreal police officer Michael Arruda has become an expert in crisis intervention and use of force. He is occasionally called upon as an expert witness for families, including Nicous D’André Spring’s, who believe their loved ones have been victims of officer misconduct.

After attending a full-day spit hood training course from an American provider, because no equivalent Canadian course was available, he said the use of this device is being trivialized. 

"I believe there is a lack of information [in Canada] on how this mask should be used," he said, noting he was taught that using the mask counts as a “use of force” in the U.S. That requires specialized training.

Use of force expert says protocols on spit hood use should be required

He said circumstances where a spit mask is safe to use are limited: it should not be used on anyone in a mental health crisis, anyone bleeding from the nose or mouth, anyone who has been pepper-sprayed, anyone suffering from a head injury, anyone being held face down or anyone complaining of difficulty breathing, among others.

The 17 deaths identified reflect nearly all of these usage errors: in half of the cases, the masked individual was held on the ground on their stomach, which is a risk of positional asphyxia; in other cases, such as Spring, the mask was put on after a dose of pepper spray.

One of these deaths, that of William Ahmo in a Manitoba jail in 2021, was caught on video and is now the subject of a public inquiry. 

Following an altercation that broke out after a correctional officer allegedly made racist remarks, half a dozen guards pinned Ahmo, a 45-year-old Anishinaabe man from Sagkeeng First Nation, to the ground.

WARNING: The video and descriptions below contain graphic content.

Video footage shows Ahmo's last minutes in Headingley jail

In footage of the incident, Ahmo appears to be wearing two overlapping spit masks — of a discontinued model — which look to have been installed incorrectly. Officers are dressed in full riot gear, including plastic visors, as they restrain Ahmo, who is bleeding. 

The scene was caught on tape. Twenty times, Ahmo is heard crying out: "I can't breathe."

In this type of circumstance, Arruda is unequivocal: “If someone is in a crisis, if someone can’t breathe, you remove [the mask]. It’s not even a question.” 

Manitoba Justice told the fifth estate that it updated its spit hood policy last year and officers now receive training on "when and how to use spit masks safely."

To discover which Canadian institutions are using spit hoods and what regulations are in place, the fifth estate and Enquête sent more than 80 media and freedom of information requests to police forces in major Canadian cities, as well as the ministries responsible for corrections and hospitals in every province and territory. 

While some police forces, such as those in Vancouver or Halifax, have developed specific training for spit masks, others may rely on the written instructions on the packaging.

Some forces withheld the details of training or usage policies, stating that disclosing this information could jeopardize public safety. The major Canadian police training academies who responded to our questions confirmed they did not cover the use of this device, and the RCMP said officers are “provided a familiarization” as cadets.

The RCMP, which provides policing services in most provinces and territories, permits the use of spit hoods on youth. 

Five provinces allow the use of spit hoods in youth detention centres, while health authorities in B.C., Alberta, and Manitoba allow staff to use the device on patients under 18.

In Quebec and Manitoba, spit hoods are used in some mental health facilities. Data obtained from the Philippe-Pinel Psychiatric Institute in Montreal, for example, revealed that in the last decade, spit masks have been used on minors more than 250 times. 

A spokesperson specified that this measure was a last resort and that a number of these incidents involved the same minors.

“Using that on someone who's very young is extremely dangerous for the psychological well-being of that young person,” said Arruda. 

In 2022, Amnesty International declared that using spit hoods on youth was akin to torture. 

The following year, an Australian report found that using spit hoods on youth can have "adverse disruptive effects on the trajectories of a child's life."

It is difficult to know how often police across Canada use spit hoods because several forces said they do not actively track usage. Others did not respond to the fifth estate’s request for usage data. 

Of the few that did, use averaged five or six times a month. In 2024, Edmonton police used spit hoods 71 times, and Winnipeg police used them 79 times. 

Some institutions consider the mask to be a reportable instance of "use of force” and document its deployment. But others — like the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), which runs federal penitentiaries — consider spit hoods akin to personal protective equipment (PPE). As such, they don’t compile data on its usage.

Health Canada, the department that regulates medical PPE, like face masks and gloves, told the fifth estate spit hoods are not a medical device or a health product and therefore fall outside the department’s domain. 

When asked if Health Canada was concerned that no federal or provincial authority seems to have independently verified the safety of spit hoods despite their widespread use and documented the risks to public health, the spokesperson did not respond.

Instead, they sent a statement of the definition of a “medical device” under the Food and Drugs Act, which included any device “mitigating or preventing a disease … in human beings.”

The RCMP, which has used spit hoods since 2003, called the device “essential” due to the risk of “biological contamination and bloodborne pathogens, such as hepatitis and HIV.” 

A 2018 study that looked into this rationale found that there is “no risk of transmitting HIV through spitting, and the risk through biting is negligible.” 

A literature review from the same period found the risk of acquiring hepatitis C through spitting is also negligible and is very low for hepatitis B, especially if no blood is in the saliva.

We also put our findings to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, whose department is in charge of the RCMP and CSC, but obtained no response.

Some police training materials viewed by the fifth estate and Enquête appear to contain errors or omissions. A training video from the Edmonton police, obtained through a freedom of information request, teaches officers how to put the mask on incorrectly, according to Arruda.

In the footage, an instructor places the mask's neck band over the subject's mouth, "which can hinder breathing or prevent safe evacuation in the event of vomiting," said Arruda.

The instructor then tells his students that this mask model is “flimsy” and that they shouldn’t be afraid of applying a second one on top, which Arruda says can increase risks “while making visual observation of vital signs on the face much more difficult.”

In most of the deaths investigated by our team, spit hoods were not found to be the cause of death. However, circumstances — often laid out in public inquiries — suggest the device was used incorrectly and often, seems to have exacerbated situations.

The stated causes of death for those who died while or after wearing spit hoods tended to be related to drug use, cardio-pulmonary issues or excited delirium, a controversial term often used to explain sudden in-custody deaths. 

This conclusion is increasingly criticized by physicians who argue that excited delirium is a clinical euphemism that masks the potentially fatal consequences of use of force and restricted breathing. 

Some of the families told the fifth estate investigations into their loved one’s death failed to take into account the physical impact of both the police intervention and the spit hood. 

It is not uncommon for authorities to diminish the role of the mask in these types of tragedies, said Dr. Matthew Thomas. The emergency medicine physician from San Diego occasionally serves as an expert witness for families of victims during trials for excessive use of force.

"We can't say that it's specifically the spit mask because there are so many other factors involved," he said, noting that police or correctional officers seldom use only one type of force. 

“You can certainly say that there’s a correlation, you can certainly say that it can be a contributing factor.”

The physical and psychological effects of this device are still poorly understood, Thomas said, noting that the mask can give people the impression that they are about to suffocate. 

"When someone feels like they're about to die and are going into survival mode, they have this massive release of adrenaline," he said. "And with that comes the elevated heart rate, you have elevated blood pressure, your pupils will dilate, there's the potential of going into an acidosis. It's a multi-factorial thing that can be too much for some individuals.”

According to Arruda, external factors can also affect the mask's safety and permeability: 

"What happens when the mask gets wet?" he said. "Does the person become unable to breathe because the mask is wet and sticking to their face? We don’t know." 

Our team asked every province and territory that reported using spit hoods how they had confirmed the device is safe. While some responded that they regularly look at what other jurisdictions are doing to ensure best practices are being followed, others said they relied on the manufacturer’s guarantee that spit hoods are safe if used properly. 

In Nova Scotia, for example, where spit hoods have been used on adults and youth since 2010, the Department of Justice said the safety of spit hoods “has been established through documented safe and effective use, informed by scientific studies provided by the manufacturer."

According to Thomas, there are no reliable studies on the safety of the masks. 

"Generally the studies are pretty limited,” he said. €œThey tend to be [done on] healthy individuals that are volunteers and tend to not have probably significant underlying medical conditions."

The fifth estate found that the RCMP — as well as CSC and the vast majority of institutions surveyed — use a specific type of spit mask called the Tranzport Hood. This was the model used in at least 10 of the 17 deaths identified by our team.

The Tranzport Hood was one of the first spit hoods on the market and is now one of the most popular models in North America. It was patented in 1999 by an American carpet installer named John Cominsky. On his daughter’s Facebook page, she said her father got the idea while watching police shows on television. 

Over the phone, Cominsky said he wanted to create a safer alternative to other methods police use to block spitting, such as duct tape, towels or shirts pulled over people’s heads. 

With the support of a special program from the U.S. Department of Justice, he said he managed to bring his product to market. He said his first ad in a trade magazine, in the late 1990s, yielded 60,000 orders in six months.

To his knowledge, no safety tests were performed on the product before it was sold. 

“They're tested on the job for most policemen, I guess, they tested it on themselves,” he said in an interview.

"If they follow the instructions written on every mask, it’s completely safe.”

Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor Safariland, one of the mask's main distributors, responded to our questions.

The fifth estate also contacted the manufacturer of the mask, Wuxi East-Sunshine Textile & Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese company that specializes in manufacturing microfiber wipes for cleaning glasses and jewelry. They told us the fabric used in the mask’s skirt is bacteria-filtering medical-grade material, but that it had only been tested to make sure it wasn’t flammable or irritating. They provided no further comment on the safety of the device. 

The police officers interviewed throughout this investigation repeated the same sentiment: being spat upon is one of the most unpleasant forms of assault.

"It’s disgusting and dangerous because if it hits your mouth or eyes, you are potentially contaminated," said one officer who agreed to speak with us on the condition of anonymity, for fear of repercussions.

He said officers working with vulnerable populations are often in contact with people suffering from serious contagious diseases and that officers who are subjected to biological projections must undergo a decontamination protocol. 

An RCMP spokesperson echoed these remarks.

“Biological contamination is the most frequently cited officer injury related to police intervention,” they wrote in an emailed statement. 

However, American training material — and experts interviewed for this story — say the best way for first responders to protect themselves is with plastic face shields or surgical masks. 

"A first responder equipped with the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) should be essentially safe from anyone spitting in their direction," said Thomas.

In recent years, global trends have been shifting. In the United States, where lawsuits concerning spit mask-related deaths have yielded multimillion-dollar settlements, police forces have started to ban the use of the device.

And in Australia, extensive news coverage of the use of spit masks on children — and a very public spit-hood-related death of an adult inmate — led several jurisdictions, including the Australian Federal Police, to ban or restrict the use of spit masks.

In Canada, only New Brunswick has discontinued the use of spit hoods in provincial detention following 37-year-old Derek Whalen’s death in 2020. 

“Research suggests that spit hoods increase the risk of harm to the individual and could potentially pose a risk of suffocation. The utilization of PPE minimizes the risk to all involved,” the New Brunswick Office of the Chief Coroner stated in its 2022 annual report.

New Brunswick health authorities said they are reviewing the use of spit hoods in hospitals and mental health institutions. However, federal penitentiaries and police forces in the province continue to use them.

In Canada, red flags are being raised.

Ivan Zinger, a former federal correctional investigator who resigned in November 2025, said his team had been working on this issue.

“We intended to engage the CSC on the growing consensus about the risks associated with the use of spit hoods, " he wrote the fifth estate. He added that his team planned to recommend that the CSC “find alternative strategies to [spit mask] use and ensure that risks of harm are mitigated. 

On Jan. 17, 2023, the chief coroner of Quebec ordered a public inquiry into Nicous D’Andre Spring's death. More than three years after his death, prison footage of his final moments has not been made public.

Last summer, Sebastien Bossé, 54, a correctional officer and Bordeaux jail manager, was charged with manslaughter for his alleged role in Spring’s death. His trial, as well as the public inquiry, are still pending.

But for Spring’s sister, Sarafina Dennie, the fight is ongoing.

The family has filed a civil suit against the Attorney General of Quebec. Their claim alleges that correctional authorities ignored a court-ordered release, unlawfully detained her brother and used excessive force; those violations, they argue, directly led to his death.

‘The system did fail him’: Sister of Nicous D’Andre Spring calls for reform

The lawsuit is more than a claim for damages. For Dennie, it is a demand for accountability; a push to force the system to answer for its failures.

“Justice for Nicous,” she said, “and justice for all the others who died so cruelly.”

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