Best practices and alternatives to solitary confinement

Friday, June 2, 2017 – Vancouver Convention Centre – Register for the conference at Eventbrite.

Agenda

8:00 – 8:30            Registration

8:30 – 8:50            Welcome

Aline LaFlamme, Métis Nation Elder

Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services/West Coast Prison Justice Society

Stephanie Macpherson, Provincial Director, BC Corrections

Anuradha Marisetti, Pacific Regional Deputy Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada

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I.  Where We Are Now: International Law, Ethics and Current Policy on Solitary Confinement

8:50 – 11:15

Howard Sapers, Independent Advisor on Corrections Reform to the Ontario provincial government and former Correctional Investigator of Canada – Mental Health and Segregation in Ontario

Dr. Terry Kupers, Professor Emeritus at The Wright Institute and author of Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It – The Mental Health Effects of Solitary Confinement

Jennifer Wheatley, Assistant Commissioner, Health Services, Correctional Service Canada – The UN Mandela Rules that Apply to Medical and Mental Health Professionals

Dr. Ruth Elwood Martin, Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia – Canadian Family Physicians and Solitary Confinement

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II. Understanding Prisoners with Mental Health Issues

 11:15 – 3:30

Dr. Diane A. Rothon, Medical Director, BC Corrections – Understanding Addiction: When Caring is Treatment

Lunch & small group discussions

Dr. Gabor Maté, Best-selling author and retired medical doctor – Prisoners of Childhood: Trauma and Mental Illness in Our Criminal Justice System    

Dr. John Livesley, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia – Treating Personality Disorder and Associated Self-Harming Behaviour

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III. Complying with the UN Mandela Rules: Best Practices for Mental Health Care in the Correctional Setting

3:30 – 4:45           Panel Discussion

Moderator:  Benjamin Goold, Professor, Allard School of Law

Melissa Taylor, A/Executive Director, Regional Treatment Centre – Pacific, Correctional Service Canada

Dr. Maureen Olley, Director of Mental Health, BC Corrections

Dr. Diane A. Rothon, Medical Director, BC Corrections

Aline LaFlamme, Métis Elder

Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services/West Coast Prison Justice Society

4:45 – 5:00         Closing remarks

Michael Jackson, Q.C., President, West Coast Prison Justice Society and Professor Emeritus, Peter A. Allard School of Law

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Register for the conference at Eventbrite.

JT suffers from frontal lobe deficits, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. He entered the federal prison system in 1995, where he was held in solitary confinement for extended periods of time. He began to self-harm in the form of head-banging as a coping mechanism.

The Correctional Service of Canada put JT under a Behaviour Management Protocol that required him to be locked in his cell if he engaged in head-banging, and to remain there for 24 hours without banging his head. If he did not stop banging his head, he would be given an order to stop and then force, including chemical agents, would be used against him. He was held in solitary confinement for hundreds of days…

Read the whole story at bc-counsellors.org. Also check out the conference we are hosting on June 2, 2017 on mental healthcare in prisons.