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Nearly one in five inmates in Ontario spent time in a solitary confinement cell over the final three months of 2015, statistics that Ontario’s Human Rights Commission said reveals an alarming and systemic overuse of segregation in the province.
In a new report released Tuesday, the human rights commission said 19 per cent of all Ontario inmates – or 4,178 people – were in segregation at one point or another between October and December of last year. Nearly half of the prisoners who were placed in segregation, or 1,889 individuals, were segregated multiple times.
The report said that nearly 40 per cent of the 4,178 inmates placed in segregation, or 1,594 inmates, had a mental health alert on their file, the human rights commission said. Roughly 1,383 of the segregation placements were for 15 days or longer, they said, including one inmate who had been in continuous segregation for 939 days.
The statistics showed that on any given day, between six to eight per cent of all inmates – or 477 to 636 people – were in segregation during that three-month time period.
The human rights commission submission comes one day after the province adopted new guidelines that limits stays in disciplinary segregation to 15 consecutive days and removes the loss of privileges for inmates who are placed in segregation. In a hastily called news conference that caught correctional officers off-guard, the province also said they would appoint an independent reviewer to reform current practices and immediately appoint a weekly segregation review committee at each jail to conduct case reviews of all inmates in segregation.
But according to the ministry’s own statistics, the disciplinary segregation that will now be subject to the 15 day rule makes up only 4.3 per cent of all segregation placements.
More than two-thirds – or 67.9 per cent – of all 6,067 segregation placements were for administrative segregation, which occurs when an inmate is segregated for reasons related to safety and security. That can include when inmates request segregation; needs protection, for the safety and security of the institution; or is alleged to have committed a misconduct.
The remaining 27.7 per cent of inmates were in segregation for multiple placement reasons or for unknown reasons.
At the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, where an inmate was recently found unfit to stand trial following 18 months in segregation, approximately 23 per cent of the total population spent time in solitary confinement over the three-month period.
“Overwhelmingly, prisoners are being placed in administrative, rather than disciplinary segregation,” said the report. “This is troubling, as administrative segregation is not governed by the same procedural safeguards as disciplinary segregation, and its extensive use shows that segregation is being used by MCSCS as a routine management strategy.”
The human rights commission notes that regulations impose no time limits for administrative segregation and no due process requirements. Inmates in administrative segregation are not entitled to an opportunity to dispute placement decisions or reasons, or to request a review by the minister, although the ministry does allow them to make submissions to the superintendent at any time.
“The extensive use of administrative segregation strongly suggests that segregation is not being used as a last resort, but rather, as a routine management strategy across Ontario’s correctional facilities,” the human rights commission said. “It cannot be acceptable for the most restrictive and depriving form of incarceration legally administered in Canada – one which is otherwise imposed as a punishment – to be the default approach in situations where prisoners are sick or in need of protection.”
The report notes Ontario’s use of segregation is much higher than in the federal correctional system, where use of administrative segregation has dropped by nearly 40 per cent since April 2014, the report said.
The report accused the ministry of failing to comply with obligations of a settlement reached with a woman with mental illness who spent more than 200 days in segregation at the Ottawa jail. Further, the overuse of segregation was a violation of prisoner’s rights within the Human Rights Code, they alleged.
The latest human rights commission submission to the ministry is a follow-up to a January 2016 submission calling for the use of segregation to be banned.
“Given these shocking numbers, and the extent and gravity of the negative impact of segregation on vulnerable Code-protected groups such as people with mental health disabilities, the OHRC again calls on the government to eliminate the use of this practice,” said the report. “To the extent that segregation continues to be used at all in MCSCS’ facilities, the statistics make the need for strict time limits and external oversight indisputable.”
Segregation, also known as solitary confinement, refers to the physical and social isolation of a prisoner, with high surveillance and minimal stimulation, for up to 23 hours per day, the report said.
More to come.
aseymour@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
In a new report released Tuesday, the human rights commission said 19 per cent of all Ontario inmates – or 4,178 people – were in segregation at one point or another between October and December of last year. Nearly half of the prisoners who were placed in segregation, or 1,889 individuals, were segregated multiple times.
The report said that nearly 40 per cent of the 4,178 inmates placed in segregation, or 1,594 inmates, had a mental health alert on their file, the human rights commission said. Roughly 1,383 of the segregation placements were for 15 days or longer, they said, including one inmate who had been in continuous segregation for 939 days.
The statistics showed that on any given day, between six to eight per cent of all inmates – or 477 to 636 people – were in segregation during that three-month time period.
The human rights commission submission comes one day after the province adopted new guidelines that limits stays in disciplinary segregation to 15 consecutive days and removes the loss of privileges for inmates who are placed in segregation. In a hastily called news conference that caught correctional officers off-guard, the province also said they would appoint an independent reviewer to reform current practices and immediately appoint a weekly segregation review committee at each jail to conduct case reviews of all inmates in segregation.
But according to the ministry’s own statistics, the disciplinary segregation that will now be subject to the 15 day rule makes up only 4.3 per cent of all segregation placements.
More than two-thirds – or 67.9 per cent – of all 6,067 segregation placements were for administrative segregation, which occurs when an inmate is segregated for reasons related to safety and security. That can include when inmates request segregation; needs protection, for the safety and security of the institution; or is alleged to have committed a misconduct.
The remaining 27.7 per cent of inmates were in segregation for multiple placement reasons or for unknown reasons.
At the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, where an inmate was recently found unfit to stand trial following 18 months in segregation, approximately 23 per cent of the total population spent time in solitary confinement over the three-month period.
“Overwhelmingly, prisoners are being placed in administrative, rather than disciplinary segregation,” said the report. “This is troubling, as administrative segregation is not governed by the same procedural safeguards as disciplinary segregation, and its extensive use shows that segregation is being used by MCSCS as a routine management strategy.”
The human rights commission notes that regulations impose no time limits for administrative segregation and no due process requirements. Inmates in administrative segregation are not entitled to an opportunity to dispute placement decisions or reasons, or to request a review by the minister, although the ministry does allow them to make submissions to the superintendent at any time.
“The extensive use of administrative segregation strongly suggests that segregation is not being used as a last resort, but rather, as a routine management strategy across Ontario’s correctional facilities,” the human rights commission said. “It cannot be acceptable for the most restrictive and depriving form of incarceration legally administered in Canada – one which is otherwise imposed as a punishment – to be the default approach in situations where prisoners are sick or in need of protection.”
The report notes Ontario’s use of segregation is much higher than in the federal correctional system, where use of administrative segregation has dropped by nearly 40 per cent since April 2014, the report said.
The report accused the ministry of failing to comply with obligations of a settlement reached with a woman with mental illness who spent more than 200 days in segregation at the Ottawa jail. Further, the overuse of segregation was a violation of prisoner’s rights within the Human Rights Code, they alleged.
The latest human rights commission submission to the ministry is a follow-up to a January 2016 submission calling for the use of segregation to be banned.
“Given these shocking numbers, and the extent and gravity of the negative impact of segregation on vulnerable Code-protected groups such as people with mental health disabilities, the OHRC again calls on the government to eliminate the use of this practice,” said the report. “To the extent that segregation continues to be used at all in MCSCS’ facilities, the statistics make the need for strict time limits and external oversight indisputable.”
Segregation, also known as solitary confinement, refers to the physical and social isolation of a prisoner, with high surveillance and minimal stimulation, for up to 23 hours per day, the report said.
More to come.
aseymour@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
