by Web Master | Dec 17, 2021 | Submissions
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services wrote to Correctional Service Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly asking for policy reform to prohibit correctional officers from cutting the clothes off people in prison, and preventing correctional officers from being present on living units in treatment centres, unless called in by health care staff. Click here to see the letter.
by Web Master | Dec 17, 2021 | News Releases
Burnaby, BC – Prisoners’ Legal Services
Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) and the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) have come to an agreement to settle a complaint filed by PLS with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2018 about CSC’s administration of Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT). PLS filed the complaint in response to calls from over 75 people who were unable to receive lifesaving OAT in prison due to long waitlists or because they had been inappropriately cut off their medication.
CSC has committed to eliminating waitlists for OAT. When PLS filed its complaint, our clients were regularly waiting months, and sometimes over one year, to receive OAT. CSC’s most recent statistics show that the total number of people receiving OAT in custody has been increasing, and the number of people across the country waiting for OAT has decreased. As of September 2021, institutions in the Pacific region and elsewhere have small or no waitlists, though long waitlists still exist at some institutions, particularly in the Prairie region. CSC will continue to publish waitlist data on its website until waitlists are eliminated at every institution.
People in prison also regularly reported that they would be cut off OAT if they were suspected of giving away their medication, even if they were benefiting from the medication. Some reported being cut off cold turkey, resulting in painful and dangerous withdrawal symptoms. Many discussed their fears of overdosing.
CSC’s OAT program will now be overseen by a National Medical Advisor for OAT, a new position within CSC. CSC has also made changes to its Guidance document on OAT to ensure that medical professionals act in the best interest of their patients and follow the United Nations Mandela Rules, which outline ethical obligations of healthcare providers in prisons.
CSC has now made it clear that OAT must not be discontinued unless it is clinically appropriate or at the request of the patient. Health care providers will work with patients to help them engage in treatment that is right for them, and if patients are benefiting from OAT they should not be discontinued. Any withdrawal symptoms will be treated urgently. All involuntary discontinuations will now be reviewed by the National OAT Medical Advisor, and the patient is entitled to a copy of the review.
CSC has also included Good Samaritan principles in its policy on institutional discipline so that people can seek medical assistance for potential overdoses without fear of being charged.
PLS’ human rights complaint also addressed the lack of psychosocial support for people with opioid dependence, in addition to medication. CSC has committed to implementing Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), which will be available at each penitentiary in Canada. Additional or different psychosocial treatment will be offered when clinically indicated.
CSC has also engaged with a medical records specialist to address the difficulty patients have getting timely access to their own medical records.
“Canada is in the midst of an overdose crisis,” said Prisoners’ Legal Services Executive Director Jennifer Metcalfe. “Access to OAT is an essential health service and we are pleased CSC has committed to making sure people in federal custody can access it without unnecessary barriers or delays. We are also pleased that CSC’s OAT program will be governed by international ethical standards for prison healthcare and overseen by an addictions medicine expert.
“Our work is driven by the concerns of our incarcerated clients, and we filed this complaint after hearing over and over that they could not get OAT. This settlement helps to affirm the human rights of people in federal custody who use drugs,” said Nicole Kief, Legal Advocate at Prisoners’ Legal Services.
Click here to see CSC`s news release regarding the settlement.
Click here to see CSC`s factsheet on its OAT program.
Media contacts:
Jennifer Metcalfe
Nicole Kief
604-636-0470
by Web Master | Dec 16, 2021 | News Releases
Burnaby BC – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services filed a human rights complaint on behalf of Perry DeFazio against the Correctional Service Canada for discrimination based on mental health disability.
Perry has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has a history of self-harm and suicide attempts. He is a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse.
On January 28, 2020, Perry was put in an isolation cell for suicide monitoring at Correctional Service Canada’s Regional Mental Health Centre in Quebec. Correctional officers forcibly tackled Perry, held him down on the bed and cut off his clothes.
Later the same day, Perry was strapped to Pinel restraints to prevent self-harm, where he was taunted by a correctional officer. He spent hours in the restraints. A nurse saw that his foot was injured and asked officers to adjust the straps. An officer accused Perry of spitting at him, although officers were wearing face shields. An officer then punched Perry in the head twice. Another officer hit him in the face three times. He was eventually taken to the hospital where he saw in a mirror that his face was swollen like a balloon. Hospital records confirm that officers used so much force that the bone around Perry’s eye was fractured and his nose was injured.
“I feel traumatized and I am afraid when guards come near me” Perry says in his complaint. He also describes experiencing anxiety attacks.
The Correctional Service Canada reviewed the use of force and concluded that the force was not necessary or proportionate. The Office of the Correctional Investigator confirmed these findings.
“It is appalling that physical violence is used at a Treatment Centre against someone in emotional distress. Treatment centres should be safe and therapeutic environments where people are treated compassionately by health care professionals. Instead we see people facing isolation and violence when they feel suicidal,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
CSC health care staff did not speak with Perry about this violent experience, or help him to process it.
“Trust is an essential foundation to any therapeutic health care relationship. How can people in prison have trust with mental health care providers if they fail to acknowledge the trauma of these kinds of abusive practices?” said Jennifer Metcalfe.
Prisoners’ Legal Services takes the position that correctional officers should not be on living units of treatment centres unless called in by health care staff for assistance, and that interventions for people in emotional distress should be led by health care staff.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
604-636-0470
by J Metcalfe | Dec 9, 2021 | Aboriginal Prisoners, News, Submissions
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.
by J Metcalfe | Dec 1, 2021 | News Releases
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
by Web Master | Sep 29, 2021 | News, News Releases, Uncategorized
BURNABY, BC – September 29, 2021
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services released a paper documenting government reports that confirm Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people held in its prisons constitutes a continuation of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Indigenous people in prison are more likely to be held in maximum security and solitary confinement. They are more likely to have violence used against them by correctional officers. Indigenous people in prison have high rates of death by homicide, suicide attempts and self-harm.
The Canadian government spends more than half-a-billion dollars each year imprisoning Indigenous people, while it denies funding to Indigenous communities to provide healing services and significantly under-funds Indigenous-run healing lodges.
On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services calls on Canada to end the genocidal practice of incarcerating Indigenous people in prisons, and calls on Canada to ensure Indigenous communities have the resources to provide healing alternatives to imprisonment.
Leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services has received reports from Indigenous people that correctional officers have been making racist remarks, including that the reports of unmarked graves identified at the sites of former residential schools are “fake news” and “propaganda” and that Indigenous people should “let it go”.
These remarks were made to people who are experiencing the very real pain and intergenerational trauma of genocide, in an environment where every aspect of their lives is controlled by the state.
“There is hypocrisy in creating a national holiday in the spirit of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous people while Canada actively engages in the mass-incarceration of Indigenous people. We can’t have truth until Canada acknowledges these ongoing atrocities, and we can’t have reconciliation until we stop denying Indigenous nations and communities the ability to heal,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
by Web Master | Sep 10, 2021 | News, Submissions, Uncategorized
On September 2, 2021, Prisoners’ Legal Services presented to the BC Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. You can read our written submission here.
by J Metcalfe | Aug 26, 2021 | News
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.
by J Metcalfe | Aug 19, 2021 | News, News Releases, Uncategorized
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
by J Metcalfe | Jun 28, 2021 | News
LEGAL ADVOCATE – Indigenous Prisoners’ Voices Project
Prisoners’ Legal Services, Burnaby, BC
Prisoners’ Legal Services is looking for a passionate, problem solving, empathetic and dedicated advocate for prisoners’ rights for a 12 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 a relevant field;
- 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
- demonstrated awareness of the cultural diversity of prisoners an asset.
Salary: $52,848 (35 hours/week)
Closing date: July 25, 2021
Start date: ASAP
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
Tel: (604) 636-0470
Fax: (604) 636-0480
Email: jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
prisonjustice.org
We welcome and encourage applications from people who identify as Indigenous.
