Inmates put in solitary due to lack of space in proper units: review
There are a limited number of reasons inmates in Saskatchewan can be held under solitary confinement, according to law.
But sometimes, previously censored data reveals, correctional staff don’t cite any reason at all.
That information was initially redacted from an internal review of administrative segregation in Saskatchewan’s jails, obtained last week through a freedom of information request. The Leader-Post pressed for a fuller account. On Wednesday, the Justice Ministry released a more complete version of the draft review, which included data on all 15 categories of reasons for segregating inmates.
The new data show that, for 12 of the 458 inmate files audited in the report, there was “no documentation” provided.
New information in the review also shows that solitary confinement is sometimes used to house inmates when there is no room for them in an appropriate security unit. “Count contingency” was cited as a reason for segregating inmates in 36 cases of the files.
Drew Wilby, spokesman for the Justice Ministry, helped explain what that means. He said inmates might come into a jail as part of a particular “security threat group” — a gang, essentially. There may be capacity within a jail as a whole, but not in the unit best suited to accommodate them.
“By having that affiliation, it’s deemed to be a potential security risk to the facility and also to themselves,” Wilby said. “(If) there isn’t space specifically on a unit to house them, they may be put into administrative segregation as the most safe place to keep them, or to keep the facility, until we’re able to move them somewhere else.
“It’s not used as a measure to fill where there isn’t space. There would be space within a facility, but it may be the most safe space within the facility at the time for that individual.”
He acknowledged that the issues are still related to population counts, however. Saskatchewan’s jails have struggled with overcrowding in recent years, largely due to high numbers of prisoners remanded to jails as they await trial. The review noted that high population counts are a significant barrier to reining in the use of administrative segregation.
Wilby noted that the review document is only a draft. He said the ministry will provide a fuller account of what occurred in the files that lacked documentation, as well as in the count contingency cases, after receiving the final version.
He also stressed that administrative segregation is a status, not a specific unit or place, something he said isn’t widely understood. Some prisoners, particularly in secure areas, may remain in their unit — though they will still be isolated alone in a single-bunk cell for about 23 hours per day.