Prisoners’ Legal Services wrote to CSC Commissioner Anne Kelly today with our concerns that Mission Medium has imposed another COVID lockdown, now in its 10th day, imposing cruel conditions of confinement and 24 hours of isolation without meaningful human contact. Click here to read our letter.
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services wrote to Premier Horgan calling on BC to fund initiatives for Indigenous-run alternatives to prison. Click here to see the letter.
November 30, 2021 – Burnaby, BC – On the two-year anniversary of the implementation of Structured Intervention Units (SIU), Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) has secured the right to be represented by legal counsel for people held in SIU.
Despite legislation protecting the right to counsel when someone is placed in this most restrictive environment permitted by law, Kent Institution in BC was refusing to share essential documents with lawyers representing clients in SIU. Kent staff even refused to tell lawyers the date and time of review hearings for their clients in SIU, making it impossible for PLS to administer legal aid to those held under this restrictive regime.
The Correctional Service Canada (CSC) took the position that it was the person held in SIU’s responsibility to share that information with their counsel. However, many of PLS’ clients were unable to share their documents or the time and date of hearings in time to receive representation.
People in prison have limited access to the telephone and they do not have access to email. They may not know which documents are relevant to a particular review, and may not be able to fill out all of the forms Kent Institution required to have their documents sent to counsel in time to receive representation. People are only notified of the time of some reviews the day before the hearing, and it may take 24 hours for a request to telephone counsel to be facilitated. This made it impossible for PLS to appoint a lawyer to represent the person at their hearing in most cases.
After PLS filed an application in Federal Court on February 24, 2020 challenging CSC’s failure to abide by the right to counsel in SIU reviews, CSC has agreed to share documents and the time and date of hearings directly with counsel. See Kent’s letter outlining its obligations here.
“It is imperative that people held in SIU are able to exercise their right to counsel, because of the increased deprivation of liberty they are facing in that setting. The right to counsel is fundamental to a fair process. Legal counsel’s access to documents relied upon by CSC in making their decisions is crucial to ensuring effective legal assistance to prisoners,” said Talia Magder, counsel for PLS.
“The SIU regime allows CSC to hold people in solitary confinement, which the United Nations considers torture or cruel treatment after 15 days. CSC must not be permitted to treat people in its custody with cruelty behind closed doors, and without a fair and transparent review,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of PLS.
“Many of the people who end up in SIU are suffering the effects of long-term isolation. Many have experienced violence and trauma in prison, including at the hands of correctional officers. They are among the most vulnerable, and their right to legal assistance must be protected to ensure their human rights, dignity, and right to liberty are not violated,” said Metcalfe.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
Prisoners’ Legal Services
604-636-0470
Beginning on September 7, 2021, anyone who was in administrative segregation in a federal penitentiary in Canada
a) for 16 consecutive days or more after March 3, 2011, or
b) for any amount of time after July 20, 2009, and you were diagnosed with a mental disorder or borderline personality disorder before or during incarceration, and you suffered serious impairment as a result of your disorder and reported it to CSC,
can make a claim for compensation. You can make a claim for compensation whether you were in administrative segregation “voluntarily” or not. Please see https://www.segregationclassactionfederal.ca/en/home for more information.
Please share this information widely with anyone who might be able to make a claim.
BURNABY, BC – August 19, 2021 – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (“PLS”) filed a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on behalf of Nick Dinardo, a 29-year-old Two-Spirit and transfeminine member of the Piapot First Nation, against Correctional Service Canada (“CSC”).
Since coming out to CSC last year, Nick has been repeatedly transferred between institutions designated for men, where they have experienced violence and harassment from both officers and other prisoners and have frequently been isolated in Structured Intervention Units (which replaced administrative segregation).
Nick has been repeatedly subject to physical force by correctional officers, and in May 2021 officers broke Nick’s arm. Officers have discussed Nick’s gender identity openly, putting Nick’s safety at risk. Both prisoners and staff have called them transphobic slurs.
Nick has often declined opportunities to come out of their cell because they fear officers will use violence against them again. Nick has not showered in approximately two months as a result. Nick has also been subject to indignities including having male officers watch them use the toilet and repeated searches by male officers, in violation of CSC policy.
These experiences are extremely traumatic for Nick, who has a history of trauma and abuse and whose family survived residential schools.
“CSC has written that it is seeking specialists in gender identity disorder for me, but my gender and culture are not a mental disorder”, Nick says. Nick’s complaint argues that not being able to live freely and safely as a Two Spirit person is a consequence of colonization and genocide against Indigenous peoples.
Nick’s requests to transfer to an institution designated for women, where they would be safer and more able to express their gender, have been denied. In making its decisions, CSC has not considered the risks to Nick’s safety and wellbeing nor their experiences of victimization in institutions designated for men.
“Nick should not have to live with a constant threat of violence hanging over their head from the people charged with their care and custody, and in conditions that regularly undermine their dignity,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
In July 2020, Nick filed a human rights complaint against CSC for failing to address their mental health needs and for responding to their emotional distress, including acts of self-harm, with violence and isolation, including officers in riot gear, pepper spray, restraints and bare isolation cells, which serve only to exacerbate their suffering. This complaint is ongoing.
Media contacts:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
Nicole Kief
nkief@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470