A class action lawsuit has been certified in Quebec that alleges federal prisons are abusing a practice known as 鈥渁dministrative segregation,鈥 which the lawsuit鈥檚 backers call 鈥渟olitary confinement.鈥
Former federal inmate Arlene Gallone is representing the prisoners. Her suit seeks financial compensation for all mentally ill prisoners exposed to the practice, along with all prisoners who were segregated for 72 hours or more, over a particular three-year period.
Gallone, who went to the Joliette Institution for Women after being convicted in an armed robbery, says she spent two three-month stretches in 鈥渢he hole鈥 as punishment for alleged infractions.
Gallone says she is still negatively affected by memories from her time in segregation.
鈥淚magine being locked up with no windows in your room, no nothing, they feed you through a trap in the door,鈥 she said.
Gallone says she couldn鈥檛 receive phone calls, was never told in advance how long she would be separated from the other prisoners and that the windows in her cell were blocked so she couldn鈥檛 see out.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how I got through it, honestly,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here was times when I just wanted to finish it. I just wanted to get it over with. I was like, 鈥榃hat is the point of me even being alive?鈥欌
Her lawyer, Clara Poissant-Lesperance, says that Correctional Service Canada uses segregation as a management tool when it should only be used in emergencies.
Clara Poissant-Lesperance called it 鈥渘ot human,鈥 and pointed to research showing it can lead to lost appetites, anxiety and distress.
Jason Godin, from the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, says that solitary confinement doesn鈥檛 exist in Canada and that 鈥渞egular programming鈥 and psychological services are available to 鈥渁dministratively-segregated鈥 prisoners.
鈥淥nly difference is,鈥 according to Godin, 鈥渢hey鈥檙e moved away from other populations for their own safety or the safety of others.鈥
Godin warns against taking away a 鈥渢ool鈥 that he says is used as a last resort and makes prisons safer.
鈥淥ur institutions are managing on any given day over 2,000 gang members in our system,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o you try to get them all getting along in one spot or another.鈥
Godin added that the union has been unable to convince the Correctional Service of Canada to provide 鈥渁lternative tools鈥 which might reduce use of segregation, such as 鈥渁 special handling unit for high-risk women offenders who self-harm, who are aggressive and who have mental health issues.鈥
The issue has also made headlines in Ontario recently, after it was revealed late last year that accused murderer Adam Capay had spent
In his 2014-15 former Office of the Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers wrote that segregation 鈥渋s so overused that nearly half (48 per cent) of the current inmate population has experienced segregation at least once during their present sentence.鈥
He pointed out that the UN Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment recommends solitary confinement in excess of 15 days be prohibited.
Sapers noted that although there are mandated procedural reviews of segregation that take place at the five-day, 30-day and 60-day marks, there are 鈥渘o legal limits on how long an inmate can be held in administrative segregation.鈥
In his mandate letter to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked her to implement changes to the 鈥渦se of solitary confinement and the treatment of those with mental illness鈥 in prisons.
The Correctional Service of Canada said, in response to Sapers鈥 report, that it was working on a strategy 鈥渢o reduce the reliance on segregation by creating better options and finding more innovative alternatives for safe reintegration.鈥
With a report from CTV Montreal
