Rule of law lacking in Canada’s prisons, segregation trial hears
TORONTO — Canada’s prison system lacks the rule of law when it comes to the use of solitary confinement, a court heard Monday.
A lawyer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association called the system of administrative segregation unconstitutional and said a key statute must be rewritten to protect inmates from harm.
The association, which argues the practice amounts to indefinite solitary confinement, submitted evidence of several inmates kept isolated for years. The current law is flawed because it does not take into account the harm caused, Jonathan Lisus said.
“The statute does not require one to turn its mind to the impact on the inmate or the reasons for the isolation,” Lisus told Superior Court Associate Chief Justice Frank Marrocco at the start of the week-long hearing. “There is no statute against the mentally ill, or against those who have done nothing and are placed in isolation because of incompatibility.”