Jail report rips solitary for mentally ill
Corrections minister vows to act on all recommendations and announces two new jails
Segregation should be banned for mentally ill or suicidal prisoners, pregnant inmates or those who are new mothers or in need of health care, says an interim report on the corrections system by an independent provincial reviewer.
And despite a pledge by the province to address the issue, the number of mentally ill individuals placed in solitary has gone up, reviewer Howard Sapers told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday.
After the report was released, Corrections Minister Marie-France Lalonde said the province will act on all 63 of his recommendations and announced funding for two new, modern jails — in Ottawa and Thunder Bay — as part of a massive reform of the province’s correctional system.
“Too many of those in segregation simply should not be held in such restrictive custody,” Sapers said. “Segregation should not be the default to manage individuals with complex needs, including those with mental health issues, those at risk of self-harm or suicide, the disabled or the critically ill needing close medical supervision.”
Lalonde said legislation will be introduced this fall that includes significant changes to the use of solitary confinement.
Sapers did not call for an outright ban, but said it should last no more than 15 days in a row, or a total of 60 without proper review.
“I certainly have called for it to be rare, to be exceptional, and for the standard to be to move people back to the least restrictive housing, which is really the principle that we are talking about — the least restrictive measure necessary for the safety of everybody involved.”
If all of the recommendations are adopted, it would “catapult Ontario to the forefront” of correctional practices, he also said.
Last November, then-corrections minister David Orazietti ordered a far-reaching independent review of the system, including solitary confinement, after realizing a more comprehensive look was needed than just the government’s own review months prior.
Sapers, who served as Canada’s correctional investigator and inmate ombudsman for more than a decade, was asked to find ways to reduce the use, duration and conditions of segregation and look at other options, especially for inmates suffering mental health issues. He was also tasked with looking at better training for staff. He will issue another report in the summer.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government needs to put more resources into the system, and called the use of segregation for mentally ill inmates unacceptable.
“The solution certainly isn’t what the Liberals have done so far . . . I am hopeful that with this report the government gets off its duff.”
The province has 26 adult correctional facilities, and the ministry has said it will work to find a common definition of segregation to help better monitor the practice and work with the human rights commission.
Solitary confinement became a hot issue because of Adam Capay, a 23year-old who was placed alone in a constantly lit windowless cell for four years while awaiting trial for murder.
Sapers’ recommends that prisoners be given reading material, a chance to listen to music and be able to view television sets in their units, and that lighting be adjusted at night in solitary cells.