CARRYING OUT A DETENTION ORDER FOR THE CBSA.

“I’m very appalled that circumstance would exist today, especially in light of the fact that there is already security in that room,” Glavine said.

Whalen said the case also concerned her, prompting her to order a review of the guidelines for dealing with prisoners who are kept in a hospital setting. As a result, she ordered the restraints be removed Thursday morning.

She said provincial corrections officials were acting on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency, which wanted Cramman restrained in her room at the Dartmouth General as a potential flight risk.

“I thought it was too much and I thought it should be reviewed,” said Whalen. “The protocol is two guards are there, so I felt that was probably sufficient.”

A justice official said Friday the provincial corrections officials applied the shackles in keeping with their policy while carrying out a detention order for the Canada Border Services Agency.

Darlene MacEachern, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society in Cape Breton, has been lobbying to have the restraints removed and have Cramman taken off a detention list and placed in her group’s care. She is also pressing the federal government to grant Cramman some form of citizenship on compassionate grounds.

Cramman’s case ended up before the Immigration and Refugee Board after she was convicted of offering to traffic heroin a couple of years ago. After serving two-thirds of her sentence she was detained by federal officials after they began looking into her citizenship.