Michael Nehass wants to plead not guilty, though he’s desperate to get out of jail.

He knows waiting for a trial will prolong his already three-year-long stay in custody at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, while if he enters guilty pleas, it’s likely his sentence would amount to time served.

“I have a good case, but I am being inhumanely treated at WCC,” Nehass said last week in Yukon Supreme Court, wearing a red jail uniform and shackled with a chain around his waist.

“The longer I sit in custody, the longer I suffer ... I don’t want to plead guilty to f***ing anything. I want to get out of jail.

“I am a human being,” he said, his voice loud and angry. “I have rights. What’s happening is f***ing wrong.”

Nehass is facing eight charges in Yukon Supreme Court: assault, assault with a weapon, two counts of uttering threats, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, breaching his probation conditions, intimidation and forcible confinement, dating back to 2011 in Watson Lake.

He has not yet stood trial for these alleged offences, but has spent the last three years in WCC.

A trial was scheduled for last April, but was adjourned when Nehass’ fitness to stand trial came into question.

(He’s since been found by the Yukon Review Board and a territorial court judge to be mentally fit.)

At recent court appearances, Nehass has often been exasperated, angry at his lengthy incarceration and perceived delays in his case. He appears drastically thinner than he was just a few months ago.

The 30-year-old has said at previous court appearances he is so desperate to get out of jail, he’s willing to plead guilty to all of his charges in hopes of being released with time served – even though he says he’s not guilty and doesn’t agree with the Crown’s version of events.

“This game is over,” he said last Tuesday, in an attempt to enter guilty pleas. “I am time served. Let me the f*** out of jail.”

But the following day, Nehass said he maintained his innocence and disputed the allegations against him.

“I only wanted to plead guilty to my Supreme Court matters out of duress,” he said.

So Justice Ron Veale scheduled a trial in March 2015, before a judge and jury.

“What’s going to happen until then?” Nehass asked. “I’m going to sit in that (solitary-confinement) box until then?”

With a trial date now set, he said he’s concerned a jury will be biased against him because of media coverage of his case over the years.

“Let me call this right now,” Nehass said. “I’m going to call a spade a spade ... I am going to be found guilty anyway in this f***ing courtroom.

“(Then) I am going to end up in segregation for even longer. What am I supposed to do?”

Nehass, a member of the Tahltan Nation, has spent a “substantial period of time in a form of separate confinement” over the past three years, according to his former lawyer, Bibhas Vaze.

(Nehass fired Vaze last week, though he is continuing to assist the court as amicus, or “friend of the court.”)

The Department of Justice won’t reveal how long Nehass has been in solitary confinement.

Nehass frequently mentions a conspiracy theory involving senior Yukon government officials and RCMP officers. He believes they are colluding to keep him behind bars because he knows government secrets.

In a complaint filed to the Yukon Human Rights Commission last April, Nehass’ father, Russ, said he believes his son’s mental health is deteriorating due to his lengthy stay in segregation.

Studies have shown that solitary confinement has serious psychological side effects, including distorted perceptions, paranoia, hallucinations, insomnia and feelings of hopelessness and despair – and that it can be as “clinically distressing” as physical torture, according to Human Rights Watch.

This isn’t the first time Nehass’ human rights have come into question at the jail.

Last January, he appeared naked in court, before a judge, via video feed from WCC, surrounded by three guards in riot gear.

Nehass’ father, who has not spoken to media, filed a complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council, alleging his son was subjected to “inhumane and degrading public exposure.”

The presiding judge, Justice Leigh Gower, apologized last month in a letter from the council to Russ.

The apology was news to Nehass.

He said last week he read about Gower’s apology in the newspaper, reported publicly after a copy of the Nov. 18 letter was sent to the Star.

“When? Where? I never got no apology,” Nehass said angrily.

“It’s in a letter,” replied Veale.

“To who?! Not to me.”

Nehass also faces charges in territorial court, laid during his time at the jail.

He pleaded guilty last month to five – attempting to break out of the jail, two counts of mischief, assaulting a guard and uttering threats – though he didn’t agree with a statement of facts proposed by the Crown.

Nehass, Vaze and Crown prosecutor Eric Marcoux are working on an agreed statement of facts – the circumstances of the offences that both parties agree upon.

A hearing has been scheduled for February to address the disputed facts.

It’s expected sentencing would take place after that.