OHRC calls for an end to segregation in prisons
Group takes legal action to protect inmates with mental health disabilities
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) announced new legal action on Tuesday that would end the practice of segregation in the Ontario prison system, to protect the human rights of prisoners with mental health disabilities.
The OHRC has filed for an expedited application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), alleging that the Ontario government breached the Christina Jahn v. Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) settlement — an agreement made in September 2013.
In it, the provincial government agreed to prohibit segregation for people with mental health disabilities and increase inmate access to mental health services.
The OHRC is requesting the same reforms with a sense of urgency, OHRC chief commissioner Renu Mandhane said.
“This is a matter of life or death,” Mandhane said. “We feel like another death in these circumstances is entirely predictable and could happen next week, next month.”
“The government chose to enter the Jahn settlement,” she said. “Having made that choice, they need to be accountable for what they have chosen to agree to.”
Since the settlement was reached, 11 people have died in segregation. In February, Cleve Geddes, an inmate at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, reportedly hung himself in a segregation cell. Geddes, 30, reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, was waiting for a mental health assessment for about a week.
In November 2016, Justin St. Amour, 30, also hung himself in a segregation cell at the same detention centre.
St. Amour was arrested at a hospital where he was seeking help. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, police were called when he started acting out following a long waiting time. They arrested him and put him in a solitary confinement for a week, recognizing him as an inmate with suicidal tendencies.
A month later, in December 2016, Soleiman Faqiri, also diagnosed with schizophrenia, died in a segregation cell after a violent encounter with a dozen correctional officers at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont. Yusuf Faqiri, Soleiman’s brother, was present at the announcement to support OHRC’s decision.
“There has to be accountability for Soleiman’s needless death,” Faqiri said, “because we don’t want another Soleiman.”
“Even the most well intentioned correctional officer will tell you they put them there because it’s the easiest place to watch them,” said Ontario Sen. Kim Pate, who was also at the announcement asking the government to act on the issue.
“Segregation in this country has been in a state of being examined for more than four decades in my own lifetime,” Pate said.
“Any attempts to reduce and monitor it have failed . . . we must end this practice and end it now.”
Paul Champ, the lawyer who represented Jahn in the 2013 settlement, was also present to support the decision to apply for a tribunal into the issue.
He is now representing both the Geddes and St. Amour families, both of whom are awaiting the results of inquests, which the province recently announced. “(The government is) not disputing the facts,” he said. “The question is what are they going to do to try and fix it . . . there hasn’t been effective change.”
In May 2017, Howard Sapers, the independent adviser on corrections reform to the Ontario government, released a report that found that segregation continues to be the default tool used to manage inmates with mental health disabilities. His recommendations to change this have not been implemented, Mandhane said.
In a statement, Minister Marie-France Lalonde of the MCSCS also committed to continue working with the OHRC. The minister said the ministry had moved forward with some recommendations, including an inmate handout, screening tool and a report that provides advice on improving access to mental-health services for female inmates.
“However, we know that we have a lot more work to do,” Lalonde said. “We continue to take immediate and decisive action to ensure that we are both safeguarding human rights and ensuring the safety of those placed in our custody.”
Mandhane questions the government’s commitment to reform.
“We’re not talking about policies, we’re not talking about numbers,” she said. “We’re talking about people. This is an issue of life or death.”
If the expedited application is accepted, a human right tribunal hearing is expected in the next 45 days — a process which normally takes six months to a year. The OHRC hopes to continue conversations with the government in the meantime.