The lawsuit, launched by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada in January 2015,\u00a0argues current practices cause prisoner suffering and deaths, deprive\u00a0fundamental protections, and discriminate against mentally ill and Indigenous inmates.<\/p>\n
The trial is scheduled to begin July 4 and last about nine weeks.<\/p>\n
Under the new bill C-56, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) will have an 18-month transition period, during which time the cap will be set at 21 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bill addresses concerns<\/h2>\n
The government’s application says the new statutory scheme will be significantly different from the one now being challenged. An adjournment would allow Parliament to debate the\u00a0proposed changes, along with new CSC policies that address concerns raised by the challenge.<\/p>\n
New directives that come alongside the bill say inmates with serious mental disorders \u2014 who are engaging in self-injury or are at risk of suicide, are pregnant, have mobility issues or are in palliative care \u2014 should not be placed in segregation unless “exceptional circumstances are identified.”<\/p>\n
No certainty\u00a0bill will pass<\/h2>\n
A swift response to the application filed today argues the case should proceed because there are gaps in the bill\u00a0and no certainty it\u00a0will even pass.<\/p>\n
A response signed by lawyer Joseph Arvay\u00a0on behalf of the John Howard Society and BC Civil Liberties Association says, “Bill\u00a0C-56\u00a0has so far only received first reading. It may yet be amended. It may yet die on the Order Paper. It is therefore uncertain whether it will be enacted and if so, in what form.”<\/p>\n
If the Attorney General’s position is accepted, where “the mere tabling of a bill on the eve of trial could derail a trial with a bill that does not actually resolve the litigation but actually prolongs it,” the adjournment presents a serious impediment to access to justice, the response says.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Legal limits on segregation urged<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Experts call for stricter rules on solitary confinement<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The court document says\u00a0it is “all the more troubling” that there is no explanation for the late introduction of Bill C-56, and that\u00a0if the adjournment is granted, costs should be awarded to\u00a0lawyers who have worked on the case pro bono.<\/p>\n
![\"ashley-smith03nw1\"](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.2066844.1406161219!\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_300\/ashley-smith03nw1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCalls to limit the segregation of prisoners grew louder after the death of teen prisoner Ashley Smith in 2007. (Photo courtesy of Ashley Smith’s family)<\/p>\n
Calls for tighter restrictions over solitary confinement grew louder after the\u00a0high-profile inquest into the death of teen prisoner Ashley Smith.<\/p>\n
Smith died in a segregated prison cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in\u00a0Kitchener, 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The government’s application to adjourn will be heard Friday in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n
Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/solitary-confinement-segregation-prison-1.4171833?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The federal government is making a last-minute bid to halt a trial set to challenge Canada’s solitary confinement prison policies as “cruel and unusual punishment.” A short-notice\u00a0application filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia argues that\u00a0going ahead with the case would be a waste of court resources, since concerns about prolonged segregation are being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-79438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Experts call for stricter rules on solitary confinement<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n