Lawsuit seeks compensation for juveniles held in solitary

A lawsuit against Ontario on behalf of juvenile prisoners placed in solitary confinement is expected to be certified as a class action this month at an uncontested hearing.

In a letter to Superior Court Justice Paul Perell this week, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said the province had agreed to the step, which would allow the unproven claim to proceed to trial.

The statement of claim filed in 2015 alleges the province improperly subjected inmates to youth segregation, which the plaintiffs maintain constitutes “systemic negligence.” The suit seeks $125 million in various damages.

Ontario, which refers to solitary as “secure isolation,” denies the allegations although it will not oppose the key step of certification.

According to a draft order agreed to by both sides, the class would be defined as inmates 17 years old or younger who were placed in segregation without any meaningful human contact for more than six hours at a stretch between April 1, 2004, and Dec. 17, 2018.

The representative plaintiff is identified only as C.S., who the claim alleges regularly spent long periods in solitary.

“Under the watch of the province of Ontario, children are regularly subjected to lengthy periods of solitary confinement,” the claim asserts. “This practice constitutes cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment and is wholly inappropriate for children in all circumstances.”

Prisoners in segregation by reason of a lockdown or those routinely locked up in their rooms overnight are excluded from the class.

Solitary confinement has become a huge issue at both the provincial and federal levels, with critics arguing through lawsuits and charter challenges that the practice needs to be abolished or severely curtailed.