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Earlier this week, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a summary judgment in two related class action lawsuits challenging Canada’s use of solitary confinement in prisons.
A three-member panel of appellate judges agreed with the lower court’s determination that administrative segregation, a practice akin to solitary confinement, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the prisoners’ rights. It agreed that Canada failed to heed warnings about the mental and physical harm caused by prolonged isolation.
Administrative segregation was reportedly used by correctional authorities as a last resort to protect inmates’ safety in prisons. Between 2011 and 2019, inmates were placed in isolation on 22,000 occasions and the average length of isolation was 59 days, according to court records.
Current international standards limit the acceptable length of isolation to a maximum of 15 days.
Christopher Brazeau serves as the representative plaintiff in one of the solitary confinement class action lawsuits, which challenges the isolation of mentally ill inmates in prisons.
The other solitary confinement class action lawsuit is led by Jullian Reddock and challenges the practice of placing prisoners in administrative segregation for 15 or more consecutive days.
“Canada chose to ignore repeated recommendations for some form of independent review of administrative segregation,” the Ontario Court of Appeal wrote. “Canada also continued to place inmates suffering from mental illness in administrative segregation, despite repeated warnings of the harm that this practice caused.”
Superior Court Justice Paul Perell issued a ruling last year in which he sided with the plaintiffs in both solitary confinement class action lawsuits and found trial would be unnecessary to decide the claims.
Judge Perell awarded $20 million in preliminary damages in each solitary confinement class action lawsuit. In the long-term solitary confinement case, he determined the inmate Class Members should get the money. For the mentally ill inmate case, he determined the money should be put toward making “structural changes” in prisons to improve conditions for inmates with mental illness.
In its appeal, the federal government argued that Judge Perell should have only issued a ruling after allowing the solitary confinement class action lawsuits to go to trial. Canada argued that it was only recently that courts characterized the practice of administrative segregation as cruel and unusual punishment.
The Ontario Court of Appeal disagreed, finding there was “ample evidence” that Canada failed to heed warnings of the devastating psychological effects that isolation can have on prisoners, especially when they are isolated for lengthy periods of time.
“In international law, for at least 30 years, there has been a growing recognition of the need to eliminate use of solitary confinement for prisoners with mental illness and strictly limit its use for all prisoners,” the Ontario Court of Appeal wrote.
“The charter breach has caused severe harm to very vulnerable people and the state’s conduct has been condemned as being cruel, excessive, abhorrent and intolerable.”
The Appeal Court ordered the government to pay the plaintiffs $75,000 to cover their legal costs.
Do you think solitary confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment? Tell us your opinion in the comment section below!
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10 thoughts onSolitary Confinement Constitutes Cruel and Unusual Punishment Ontario Court Rules
My son also has a mental illness. The prison system in TN is the same here. Unending months and months in solitary. Very sad and heartbreaking
add me please
My son was in solitary confinement for over 30 days. Which lead him to miss his dialysis treatment. In Lexington Oklahoma prison, claim it was due to the COVID spread but he didn’t have COVID a few nurses said this was a cruel punishment for him. They were concern
My son has a mental illness was put in solitary prison confinement over 15 days in the us . Know have health problems transferred to prison hospital. Were can I file.
Hi How can I get justice for my 2 brothers who were in isolation for many many months and abused in provincial jail? Thankyou
It’s a shame that this lawsuit isn’t in the USA, I spent almost a year in solidarity confinement for nothing! They were trying to separate my daughter in law and myself so we couldn’t communicate. One of us were always in solidarity confinement. Then I left for prison and came back for court and to be smart asses they put me in there again for the 2 months I was there. I used to be a very social person and now I barely leave the house and can’t imagine what my life would be like if I wasn’t able to work from home. This took place from March 2010 to December 2011 and again in 2012 At Sacramento County Jail, California
Kathlyne Phillipson
My husband was put in solitary confinement for 5 years. He didn’t cause problems. As a matter of fact he completed every certificate he could while he was there. They only let him out when it was time to move to a different prison
My partner was in segregation for over 60 days after the siu were supposed to be used. Correctional staff will always do what they want , how they want. Makes you wonder why they never let reporters in to do interviews. They have alot of dirt to hide before any one from the public enters. Ranging from tidying up the filthiness and changing up the inmates food on the days anyone from the public enters, especially the reporters. When they do book the ‘meetings’ they always have the inmates that can’t speak proper English (from reserves) or understand English. The correctional investigator is a joke , conflict of interest the way they figured that one out. They need the correctional investigator to be an outside job. Not their own staff working against them. The c.i is supposed to work for the inmates but rather they work with the jail and blame the inmate for whatever the inmate has complaints about. Bunch of crooked bs. They hide to much crap behind those walls and alot of them are just as bad as the inmates. Just that they all work the dirt together on their own team and they don’t get caught. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who brings the drugs into these institutions like cmon, who doesn’t want extra fast cash? Crooked ass system
I have spent years in solitary confinement. The Hole… I was in the Guelph Ontario Reformatory in 1972 and spent 30 days on nothing but 1 slice of bread and 1/2 cup of tea. Once a day. They did give us Beancake… However, it was inedible. It smelled so bad, I just couldn’t eat it. I got so sick after the 30 days, they returned me to my job at the drillpress. Within the first hour I fainted, I was eventually taken to the hospital, where they removed my tonsils…
Since I’ve been in solitary confinement (15days), I haven’t been the same. Not only was I in solitary confinement I was only allowed a suicide blanket nothing else no nat to sleep on or anything. I don’t like to leave my home now or be around people. It’s like I’m stuck in that mindset now. I really can’t explain but it’s a terable way to live. This happened in Texas where they treat the pigs better than the inmates.