Use of solitary confinement on the rise

Despite warning signs and the suicides of inmates Edward Snow shoe in Edmonton and Ashley Smith in Ontario, use of solitary confinement in federal institutions is on the rise.

Over the last five years, use of segregation has increased by more than six percent — or nearly 500 extra admissions. One-third of those stays in segregation last more than 30 days, against the United Nations’ recommendation of 15 days maximum.

“We see the same kinds of policy gaps, the same problems with lack of compliance, the same issues with accountability again, and again, and again,” said Howard Sapers, the federal corrections investigator and the government’s ombudsman for federal offenders. “We don’t see sustained learning from the Correctional Service of Canada in terms of applying lessons from previous incidents.”

Edward Snowshoe, 24, killed himself in the Edmonton Institution in 2010 after being held in segregation for 162 days. Last week, an inquest into his death outlined a pattern of neglect and administrative error. Ashley Smith strangled herself in an Ontario prison in 2007 after spending more than 2,000 days in solitary confinement.

“Edward Snowshoe is the latest example of something that should never happen,” said Michael Jackson, a law professor at the University of British Columbia and author of Prisoners in Isolation: Solitary Confinement in Canada.

“It’s really difficult to understand how these things can keep happening given the government’s knowledge of its effect.”

Sapers agreed: “We don’t see sustained learning from the Correctional Service of Canada in terms of applying lessons from previous incidents.”

Snowshoe started his almost 5-1/2 year sentence in a minimum security prison, then he was moved to medium, and finally maximum, security.

Sapers said the decisions as to why he was moved twice were “questionable.”

In 2011, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, said patients with mental illness should be prohibited from solitary confinement altogether, along with juveniles.

“Mr. Snowshoe had some identified mental health concerns, and it is not apparent that those concerns were taken into account when decisions were made about reclassifying him and transferring him,” Sapers said.

Jackson said inmates can be placed into segregation for their own protection, but in the cases of Snowshoe and Smith, their conditions were intensified in the name of protecting them.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it might make it even worse,” he said.

Placing inmates with mental health issues in solitary confinement often yields results the opposite of the intent, Sapers said.

“When you get into that kind of a contest, unfortunately the inmate will often win, but win by hurting themselves.”

Sapers said unless there is new legislation, it’s likely nothing will change.

“Much of what we’re discussing is not news to the Correctional Service of Canada,” he said.

“They know this. We don’t need another board of investigation and another coroners’ inquest and another jury’s findings to tell the correctional service, and that frankly to me, makes it all the more frustrating,” he continued.