On Friday June 18, 2021, Prisoners’ Legal Services made submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on CSC’s response to COVID-19, its implementation of Structured Intervention Units and sexual violence in federal prisons.
You can read our submission here.
Prisoners’ Legal Services
ARTICLING STUDENT JOB POSTING
Two year term – May 2021 to April 2023
Burnaby, BC
About the organization
Prisoners’ Legal Services is a legal clinic serving federal and provincial prisoners in British Columbia. We assist prisoners with issues related to their liberty rights under s. 7 of the Charter, health care and human rights.
Duties and responsibilities
Skills and experience
Strong research and writing skills and an interest in oral advocacy are essential. Familiarity with administrative or human rights law is an asset. The successful candidate should have the ability and desire to work with prisoners in a respectful and non-judgemental manner. Interested students should have a car to travel to prisons in the Fraser Valley, public health permitting.
Salary and hours of work
The salary for this position is $50,000 for the first year as an articling student and $56,749 for the following year as an associate. The position is for 35 hours of work per week. Professional Legal Training Course (PLTC) and Law Society fees and insurance will be covered.
To apply
Applications should include a résumé, cover letter, writing sample and transcripts. The cover letter should be addressed to Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services and should include an explanation of why you are interested in this position.
Submit applications via email to jmetcalfe[at]pls-bc.ca by Friday, April 9, 2021 at 3:30 p.m.
We strongly encourage applications from members of communities that experience structural discrimination and marginalization.
This position is funded by the Law Foundation of BC.
BURNABY, BC – Nick Dinardo, a Two Spirit prisoner diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, reports being met with violence by correctional officers while in a CSC “treatment centre.”
Nick is a member of the Piapot First Nation, and their family are residential school survivors. Nick has a history of trauma both in and out of custody and has attempted suicide many times. Despite their vulnerability, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) holds Nick in maximum security prisons and Structured Intervention Units (SIU), where the toxic environment makes their mental health worse and results in serious acts of self-harm.
On March 1, 2021, after multiple incidents of self-harming in the SIU at Atlantic Institution, Nick was transferred to the Shepody Healing Centre, a CSC-run treatment centre in Dorchester, New Brunswick.
While at Shepody, Nick reports they were in emotional distress after receiving some upsetting news. Nick pressed the panic button and officers responded in anger. Nick threw the button (away from officers into the corner of the room) and the officers responded by pepper spraying Nick in the face and open cuts, jumping on top of them, twisting them up and smashing their head. Officers yelled things like, “you f*cking goof, you never shut your mouth you piece of sh*t”.
“It is appalling that someone in emotional distress would be subjected to violence and abuse by officers in a treatment centre” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services. “Why didn’t health care staff attempt to de-escalate the situation and avoid the use of violence against someone who is already deeply traumatized? The amount of force Nick describes appears unnecessary and excessive, and a violation of law and policy,” she said.
Officers did not remove Nick’s handcuffs or allow them to take off their clothes for a decontamination shower, which is contrary to policy. Nick reports officers kept turning the water to scalding hot, intensifying the effect of the pepper spray and causing Nick intense pain.
Prisoners’ Legal Services has requested that this use of force be reviewed by CSC at the highest level.
After this incident, Nick cut themself and wrote “help” on their cell wall in blood.
In response, Nick was restrained on a Pinel board without having their wounds sutured, despite some of them being so deep that Nick could see their veins. Officers made antagonistic comments to them while they were strapped down. Nick reports that after they were released from the Pinel board they fell asleep and woke up soaked in blood. Nick lost consciousness from blood loss, and was placed back in the Pinel restraints, still without having their wounds mended. Nick had also swallowed razor blades, and reports that while they were on the Pinel board, they began coughing up large amounts of blood. They continued to vomit up blood in the days that followed.
Nick was taken to outside hospital on approximately March 3, 2021 and was returned to maximum-security Atlantic Institution on approximately March 5, 2021, where they will likely be returned to isolation in the Structured Intervention Unit.
CSC has acknowledged that uses of force, isolation and restraint have been traumatic for Nick and contribute to his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms.
Nick has requested placement at an institution that would better reflect their gender identity as Two Spirit, and where they could receive trauma treatment in a less hostile environment.
“I just want my basic rights and to be treated like a human being. That’s all I ask for,” said Nick.
Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) has recommended in its report Damage/Control: Use of force and the cycle of violence and trauma in BC’s federal and provincial prisons, that psychiatric nurses play a more central role in responding to prisoners in emotional distress, and that responses be supportive and trauma-informed. PLS has further recommended that correctional officers receive more training in de-escalation skills and non-violent crisis intervention, especially for those working with people with mental health disabilities and in treatment centres.
Nick filed a complaint on July 27, 2020 with the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging ongoing discrimination by CSC.
Prisoners’ Legal Services has also filed a systemic representative human rights complaint that addresses many of these issues.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
LEGAL ADVOCATE
Prisoners’ Legal Services, Burnaby, BC
Prisoners’ Legal Services is looking for a passionate, problem solving, empathetic and dedicated advocate for prisoners’ rights, with a focus on liberty rights.
We are a small non-profit society providing legal services to federal and provincial prisoners in the province of British Columbia.
The legal advocate position involves providing advocacy to prisoners regarding prison legal issues. This work is primarily done by telephone, fax and email. Advocacy on behalf of prisoners may involve summary advice, informal advocacy, providing written submissions and personal representation at tribunals.
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 requires frequent 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:
Skills and Abilities
Salary: $53,375 (one year contract with a possibility of renewal)
Closing date: January 4, 2020
Start date: ASAP
Interested applicants should submit a covering letter and résumé outlining how their qualifications meet the position requirements to:
Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
Prisoners’ Legal Services/
West Coast Prison Justice Society
Email: jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
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