Solitary Confinement in Canada

May 19, 2021

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What is solitary confinement?

For the purpose of these rules, solitary confinement shall refer to the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. Prolonged solitary confinement shall refer to solitary confinement for a time period in excess of 15 consecutive days.

–Mandela Rules, Rule 44

How does Canada use Solitary Confinement?

In 2019, British Columbian and Ontario Courts of Appeal found that prisons within Canada used Solitary Confinement as punishment. This confinement violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

So, the government changed the rules, creating the term, ‘Structural Intervention’. Prisoners undergoing “Structural Intervention” were to be given at least 4 hours outside of their cells, and 2 hours of meaningful human contact. However, prisons in Canada do not universally enforce these rules. .

Canada’s Statistics and Research

Anthony Doob and Jane Sprott have made reports over the past two years regarding the use of Structural Intervention Units (SIU) where inmates would be placed for solitary confinement. Currently, the most recent is from May 10. As a summary of their conclusions:

Of the inmates that have defined segregation, 38.9% do not receive the full four hours outside their cell. This overlaps with the next 2 statistics.
28.9% of inmates undergo Solitary Confinement as defined by the Mandela Rules
An ADDITIONAL 9.9% of inmates undergo torture (more than the 22hours or 15 days)
Lack of staff fully engaging with the inmates. There is a possibility that mental illness causes the inmates to choose to stay in their cells. However, there is also a possibility that staff do not address the reason why.
Other concerns regarding the monetization of SIU’s.

Jane Sprott, Professor at Ryerson University

Anthony Doob, Professor at University of Toronto

Solitary Confinement (along with intervention and torture) come with a whole slew of issues, regarding physical and mental impacts. Additionally, a disproportionate amount of black and Hispanic individuals are held in Solitary Confinement (not exclusive to canada), bringing up the topic of systemic racism.

Of course, it’s clear that changes have been made. If 38.9% of inmates aren’t receiving the full hour hours outside of their cells, it means that 61.1% are. 100% of Inmates should be receiving that four hours, and 100% of inmates should live torture free. I’d reccomend checking out Doob and Sprott’s report. It provides way more detail than I can go over, covers related topics such as regional differences, and proposes new solutions to combat this issues.