Federal legislation aims at limiting solitary
OTTAWA — The federal government introduced legislation Monday to restrict the use of solitary confinement inside federal prisons and to better protect prisoners with mental illness or at risk of self-harm or suicide.
Once passed, the bill would — for the first time — impose a socalled legislative framework establishing a time limit for what prison officials call administrative segregation.
The bill — part of the federal government’s broader efforts at criminal-justice reform, which include reducing the number of indigenous Canadians behind bars — was introduced with just a week left in the spring parliamentary calendar, meaning it’s unlikely to come up for debate before the fall.
Under the current law, the Correctional Service of Canada is required to release prisoners from administrative segregation at the earliest possible time. The new law would establish an initial time limit of 21 days, and then 15 days once the legislation has been the law of the land for 18 months.
The legislation also proposes amending the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Abolition of Early Parole Act to make them compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
That includes reinstating an oral hearing after a suspension, termination or revocation of parole.
The legislation would also allow offenders convicted of an offence before March 28, 2011, and who meet the criteria for accelerated parole, to once again be eligible for an accelerated parole review.
In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down retroactive changes to parole eligibility that were enacted by the previous Conservative government.
The unanimous ruling found that the Abolition of Early Parole Act was in clear breach of the Charter because it imposed new punishment on people who had already been tried and sentenced.
Marco Mendicino, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould’s parliamentary secretary, said the new legislation would also reinstate the right for an offender to get an oral hearing after a parole or statutory release is revoked.
Mendicino said the previous Conservative government revoked that right in 2012, leaving the discretion of whether to hold a hearing to a parole board member.