PLS’ 2021 submission to the BC Finance Committee
On June 6, 2020, Prisoners’ Legal Services made a submission to the BC Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. You can read our submission here.
News Release: Report exposes Canada’s use of widespread isolation in its prisons
Burnaby BC
Today, the West Coast Prison Justice Society and Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) released Solitary by Another Name: The ongoing use of isolation in Canada’s federal prisons.
The report identifies ways that the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) continues to routinely keep prisoners in solitary confinement, or solitary-like conditions of isolation, sometimes for months on end, despite Canada’s claims to have eliminated the use of segregation.
The report focusses on prisoners’ experiences at Kent Institution, where prisoners are subjected to extensive isolation. Kent Institution frequently uses “lockdowns,” where prisoners on certain units or in the entire prison are confined to their cells all day, often only getting out for a 15-minute shower and phone call, sometimes for weeks at a time. The reasons for lockdowns are often for administrative reasons, rather than for true emergencies.
Kent Institution has also implemented a restrictive movement routine, which kept prisoners who had not secured institutional jobs or spots in programs or school, locked in their cells for all but three hours per weekday. During the pandemic, the routine has been modified to allow prisoners out for an additional hour on weekdays, which is not a significant improvement especially when other services are restricted.
One anonymous Kent prisoner describes this isolation: “I feel completely messed up spiritually and mentally. I spend my time just thinking about what I will do when I get out of my cell. And then I get so agitated that by the time I leave my cell, I get extremely irritated when people talk to me. When we get out of our cells, everybody is on edge, like me, and I feel like I have to watch my back.”
The report also describes prisoners’ experiences at Mission Medium Institution, which was locked down for more than two continuous months when prisoners tested positive for COVID-19. All Mission prisoners were held in total isolation for the first eight days, and were held in extremely restrictive conditions of solitary confinement for the rest of the lockdown, including for weeks after there were no active cases of COVID-19.
November 30, 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of Structured Intervention Units (SIUs), which were introduced to replace CSC’s unconstitutional segregation regime. Solitary by Another Name describes many prisoners’ experiences in the SIU at Kent Institution over the past year as involving the same isolation and lack of meaningful human contact that they experienced in segregation. The report details obstructionism by Kent which denies prisoners the right to counsel in SIU reviews.
Often people with untreated mental health needs that are exacerbated in the prison environment end up in maximum-security and SIUs. Indigenous people, who may have been impacted by multi-generational trauma and are often further traumatized by the colonial prison system, are also overrepresented in maximum security and SIUs.
Solitary by Another Name recommends legislative limits on the use of isolation, with more investment in independent healing professionals. It recommends prisoners with serious mental illnesses be transferred to community-based hospitals where they can receive mental health care in a therapeutic environment. The report further calls on Canada to significantly increase funding for Indigenous-run healing lodges.
“With no significant investment in alternatives to SIU, such as Indigenous-run healing lodges or units that would actually provide a therapeutic environment for people with mental health disabilities, CSC will continue to keep vulnerable prisoners in conditions of isolation.” – Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services
Prisoner accounts in the report make it clear that CSC will not be able to reduce its reliance on isolation unless its toxic staff culture changes. PLS calls for an external review of staff culture at all levels within CSC to develop a plan to change the culture of corrections that would respect the dignity and human rights of prisoners.
“It is well acknowledged that isolation causes serious harm to mental health, yet CSC continues to subject prisoners to this draconian practice.” – Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services
The full report is available here.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services
604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
We are hiring a contract legal advocate to focus on Indigenous decarceration
LEGAL ADVOCATE
Prisoners’ Legal Services, Burnaby, BC
Prisoners’ Legal Services is looking for a passionate, problem solving, empathetic and dedicated advocate for prisoners’ rights for a 14 month contract position.
The legal advocate will focus on identifying the needs of Indigenous people in custody, and providing legal aid services in the area of liberty and health care issues.
We are a small non-profit society providing legal aid to federal and provincial prisoners in the province of British Columbia regarding prison legal issues.
The legal advocate work is primarily done by telephone, fax and email. Advocacy on behalf of prisoners may involve summary advice, informal advocacy and providing written submissions.
Legal advocates have conduct of client files and are responsible for ensuring day-to-day tasks are scheduled and performed within relevant timeframes. The job involves reviewing and determining the legal merit of cases and determining the level of service to be provided. Legal advocates work under the supervision of a lawyer.
Legal advocates have a great deal of contact with prisoners, prison administrators and parole authorities.
This position may require travel to prisons in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Access to a vehicle is essential. A CPIC clearance is required to visit prisons.
Basic Qualifications:
- Post-secondary education in Law, Criminology, Social Work, Paralegal training or equivalent;
- Strong verbal, written and interviewing skills; and
- Experience in a legal environment or advocacy an asset.
Skills and Abilities
- ability to be a strong advocate for disadvantaged clients, including those who have experienced trauma, poverty or colonialism, those with mental health disabilities, or those whose first language is not English;
- ability to work well with others in a team setting;
- ability to negotiate and find creative solutions to prisoners’ legal problems;
- ability to exercise excellent judgment in matters of ethics and confidentiality;
- must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, in particular in dealing with prisoners, lawyers, and prison and parole officials;
- must be familiar with general software applications (e.g. MS Word, Outlook);
- must be willing and prepared to assist those convicted of various crimes in a non-judgmental way; and
- second language or demonstrated awareness of the cultural diversity of prisoners an asset.
Salary: $47,563 (32.5 hours/week) with a possibility of an increase to $52,848 (35 hours/week) in January 2021
Closing date: September 25, 2020
Start date: October 2020
Interested applicants should submit a covering letter together with a résumé outlining how their qualifications meet the position requirements to:
Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
Prisoners’ Legal Services/
West Coast Prison Justice Society
West Coast Prison Justice Society
Tel: (604) 636-0470
Fax: (604) 636-0480
Email: jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
[prisonjustice.org]prisonjustice.org
We welcome and encourage applications from people who identify as Indigenous.
NEWS RELEASE: Prison Justice Advocates Call for Formal Investigation into Abuse of Man with Mental Health Disabilities Held in Solitary Confinement
Burnaby, BC – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (“PLS”) called on Correctional Service Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly to convene a formal investigation into the abuse of a federal prisoner being held in solitary confinement.
Thirty-one year old Shane Yukich has been diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. He is described as having delusions, paranoia and auditory hallucinations. He is certified under the BC Mental Health Act but, instead of being held at a treatment facility, he is on “extended leave” at Kent Institution, a maximum security prison, where he has been held for the last approximately eight weeks in the Structured Intervention Unit, which replaced administrative segregation in November 2019. He describes spending most of the day alone, pacing back and forth in his cell.
Recently, another prisoner reported to PLS that officers take advantage of Mr. Yukich’s mental health disabilities to harass and abuse him, speaking to him in a language they know he does not understand, leaving him in feces-covered cells, and denying him access to legal counsel.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
The following can be attributed to Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services:
“The leave provisions of the Mental Health Act are meant to allow psychiatric hospital patients to reside in the community if their doctor feels it would be therapeutic and beneficial to them. Using it to send a patient to a maximum security prison where they are held in solitary confinement is unjustifiable.
“Mr. Yukich’s circumstances demonstrate that without adequate external oversight, abuse of vulnerable prisoners runs rampant. This situation occurs after many months of Kent Institution obstructing prisoners’ right to counsel generally, including by cancelling our segregation clinic – which was designed to identify and remedy situations just like Mr. Yukich’s.
“We call on Commissioner Kelly to immediately convene an investigation under section 20 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act into Mr. Yukich’s circumstances and the broader issues they raise around prisoner abuse and interference with the right to counsel at Kent Institution.”
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
NEWS RELEASE: Correctional Service Canada uses violence and isolation to respond to self-harm and distress, human rights complaint alleges
BURNABY, BC – July 31, 2020 – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (“PLS”) filed a human rights complaint on behalf of Nicholas Dinardo, a 28-year-old member of the Piapot First Nation, against Correctional Service Canada (“CSC”).
Nick has a history of trauma and their family are residential school survivors. They have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and have attempted suicide many times. Their acts of self-harm have sometimes been so severe that they have required blood transfusions.
“Instead of responding to Nick’s needs with therapeutic and culturally appropriate mental health and healing services, CSC’s primary responses have involved force and isolation,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, PLS’ Executive Director. “[Their] experience is emblematic of how CSC treats Indigenous prisoners, who have often experienced multi-generational trauma tied to colonialism and are more likely to be classified to maximum security, held in isolation, and have officers use force against them. These kinds of responses only serve to further traumatize people who are already suffering, and continue Canada’s legacy of genocide against Indigenous peoples.”
Nick’s emotional distress has been met with extreme force, including the Emergency Response Team (akin to a riot squad), pepper spray, tear gas and batons. Officers recently shot them in the face with a rubber bullet. “At a time when Canada is reckoning with police brutality against racialized people and the harm done when police respond to emotional crises, CSC must also stop responding to emotional distress with violence,” said Ms. Metcalfe.
Nick has also experienced long-term solitary confinement in CSC custody, including an approximate seven-month continuous placement in 2012. Most recently, they were in a “structured intervention unit” (“SIU”) for approximately three months, where they rarely left their cell. SIUs were introduced in November 2019 to replace administrative segregation.
CSC also places Nick in small isolation cells where it monitors prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm. Prisoners on suicide watch are often deprived of clothing (they must wear “suicide smocks”), belongings, diversions to help occupy their minds, and meaningful human contact. Sometimes Nick does not even have a mattress to sleep on. “One hour can feel like a whole day when you’re in conditions like that,” says Nick. “A weekend can feel like forever and it makes me feel hopeless. It makes me feel worse than I did before and want to kill myself more.”
Even at CSC treatment centres, which are supposed to be therapeutic, Nick has been isolated and antagonized by correctional officers. Nick remember officers telling them they hoped Nick would die.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence and acknowledgement by Canadian courts that solitary confinement causes serious psychological harm, CSC continues to isolate prisoners already at risk of suicide,” said Ms. Metcalfe.
An Independent External Decision Maker who reviewed Nick’s SIU placement concluded: “[t]here is a strong probability that, should serious intervention not be taken, [Dinardo] will die in jail as a result of a successful suicide, or that [they] will enter back into society with the same issues that brought [them] there.”
In 2019, PLS released an analysis of how correctional officers use of force in federal and provincial prisons in BC, based on interviews with over 100 prisoners. The report found that officers were frequently responding with violence to prisoners with mental health disabilities and prisoners in emotional distress, which results in trauma for prisoners and creates an adversarial environment that compromises safety for everyone. The report called on CSC to transform its approach to crisis intervention. CSC did not respond to the report’s recommendations.
Nick’s complaint builds on a representative human rights complaint filed by PLS in 2018, which alleges that CSC discriminates against prisoners with mental health disabilities. This case was recently referred to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Click here to see a copy of Nick’s complaint and here to see a copy of the representative complaint.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470