Read on Twitter
Adam Capay, a 26 yr old Indigenous man, spent 1,647 days in solitary confinement. In 126-page ruling judge drew particular attention to jail’s procedure for reviewing Capay’s segregation.He also said procedures were “pro forma, perfunctory and meaningless” https://bit.ly/392d4jb
Judge also said this fundamentally violated protections against arbitrary detention in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One witness testified that reviews of Capay’s well-being were so sporadic that it was as if he had “disappeared.” https://bit.ly/392d4jb
Justin St. Amour had been homeless when he went to a hospital for help. He was arrested and charged with mischief and creating a disturbance at hospital. He later hanged himself at Ottawa jail with a ripped up braided bedsheet, less than a week later. https://bit.ly/392d4jb
Cas Geddes family feared he was off his medication. He threatened to put bullet through father's head and burn down his property. But when OPP Const. Teasdale arrived he didn't apprehend him under Mental Health Act. He also died by hanging in Ottawa jail. https://bit.ly/392d4jb
A series of legal decisions brought a years-long legal push to curtail solitary confinement to fruition. A BC ruling found the old segregation regime was unconstitutional, it violated Section 7 of Charter, and discriminated against Indigenous individuals. https://bit.ly/392d4jb
An appeal court opinion overturned lower court ruling that found solitary confinement could cause serious psychological harm to inmates, but ruled that harms could be avoided if staff followed existing laws requiring close monitoring of prisoners’ health. https://bit.ly/392d4jb
CCLA argued Correctional Service’s use of prolonged administrative segregation can cause permanent harm and that no level of medical monitoring can prevent harm. (They also sought prohibition on housing young and mentally ill inmates in segregation, but were unsuccessful.)
What was singular about appeal court ruling is it put in place a tight time frame and onus of responsibility on government to take immediate action; a challenge for an unaccountable government entity that oversees 43 prisons, 23,000 offenders and a $2.4-billion budget.
Federal government introduced Bill C-83 to address legal shortcomings of legislation on books by replacing administrative segregation with the use of new housing option called Structured Intervention Units (SIU). Inmates would be allowed four hours a day outside their cells.
Independent oversight panels were stonewalled for the data they needed. "Where did the individuals go for four hours? Were they allowed in the hallway or yard by themselves? Were they handcuffed outside their cell?" https://bit.ly/392d4jb
Using names 'medical isolation','dry cells' or 'range lockdowns', solitary persisted under other names with no monitoring whatsoever. Anne Kelly, Commissioner of CSC responded "as with any new model, there have been some data integrity issues that we've been working to stabilize"
The best Canadian reporting on solitary confinement has been done by @CANADALAND in two part series Unconstitutional Solitude. In part 2 @ArshyMann spoke with Yusuf Faqiri. But I have also been held in solitary- only I grew up next door to @JesseBrown. https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/stories-from-solitude/
