Liberals move to end solitary confinement of federal prisoners
The Liberal government is moving to end the use of solitary confinement of federal prisoners.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled legislation Tuesday to establish penitentiary units, called Structured Intervention Units (SIU), that will house inmates separately while still giving them access to rehabilitation, mental health care and other programs.
Goodale was scheduled to hold a news conference to discuss the details at noon ET, and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.
Under the new SIU model, inmates who can't be safely managed in the mainstream population will receive interventions and programs tailored to their needs. They will also be allowed outside their cell for four hours each day (compared to two under the current administrative segregation model) and will have the opportunity to have two hours a day of "meaningful human contact."
Eliminating segregation is part of a multi-pronged bill that also brings in measures to boost victims' supports and address the specific needs of Indigenous offenders.
"We are committed to ensuring that we not only have the tools to hold guilty parties accountable for breaking the law, but (to a system that) also creates an environment that fosters rehabilitation so that we have fewer repeat offenders, fewer victims, and ultimately, safer communities," Goodale said in a statement.
"This new approach to federal corrections will protect the safety of our staff and those under their care by allowing offenders to be separated as required, while ensuring those offenders receive more effective rehabilitative programming, interventions and mental health support."
Other proposed reforms in the bill include:
Ensuring systemic and background factors unique to Indigenous offenders are considered in all correctional decisions, and replacing the word "Aboriginal" with "Indigenous" in CSC directives and programs.
Authorizing the use of body scan imaging technology to help prevent contraband such as drugs and weapons from entering prisons, as an alternative to more invasive strip searches.
Increasing victims' access to audio recordings of parole board hearings.
Providing greater autonomy and clinical independence to health-care professionals working in prisons, and allowing for patient advocates as was recommended by the coroner's inquest into the death of Ashley Smith.
Calls for tighter restrictions over solitary confinement grew louder after that high-profile inquest into the death of the teen prisoner. Smith died in a segregated prison cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., in 2007.
A coroner's jury ruled that her self-inflicted choking death was a homicide and made 104 recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
The Liberal government has faced legal challenges over Correctional Service Canada's administrative segregation policies, with prisoner advocates calling prolonged use of segregation "cruel and unusual punishment."
Last year, the government presented to Parliament a bill to cap the use of segregation at 15 days, with an 18-month transition period.
There will be no hard cap under the new model.
A senior government official said an offender would be moved to an SIU if they posed a danger to themselves, another offender or staff member or the institution itself. They could also be moved there if their presence in the general population could interfere with a criminal investigation.
Safety remains the top priority, but the goal is to give offenders the supports, programs and professional help they need to address their underlying issues that led to their behaviour.
