by Web Master | Jun 20, 2019 | News, News Releases, Uncategorized
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services called on the governments of Canada and British Columbia to take immediate and dramatic action to address the crisis of the over-representation of Indigenous prisoners.
Click here to see our open letter to government.
We make this call to action with other leaders in the legal community, including the Canadian Prison Law Association, the Indigenous Bar Association, the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, the Alberta Prison Justice Society.
by J Metcalfe | Jun 17, 2019 | News, News Releases
Burnaby BC
Today, the West Coast Prison Justice Society and Prisoners’ Legal Services (“PLS”) released Damage/Control: Use of force and the cycle of violence and trauma in BC’s federal and provincial prisons. The report analyzes law and policy governing the use of force by correctional officers in light of interviews with over 100 federal and provincial prisoners and makes 87 recommendations for change.
The report highlights the stories of 21 people who were subjected to acts of force in the custody of BC Corrections or Correctional Service Canada (“CSC”), including federal prisoner Joey. Joey, who like many people in custody has a history of trauma, began self-harming in prison as a coping mechanism. Because of his self-harm, Joey has been pepper-sprayed and forcibly removed from his cell by the Emergency Response Team, a group of officers in riot gear with pepper spray and shields. He has been isolated in empty, filthy cells with the lights on 24 hours per day and officers sitting outside threatening to pepper spray him if he hurts himself. Joey says these experiences were so traumatic that now, when he worries the Emergency Response Team is coming, he often waits with a razor blade to his throat or a noose wrapped around his neck.
“Joey’s case exemplifies the psychological harm done to prisoners when officers repeatedly rely on force. Using force rather than a therapeutic response has done nothing to stop his self-harm and only exacerbates his distress and thoughts of suicide. This terrible cycle indicates how misguided, counterproductive, and dangerous it is to use a punitive response against traumatized and vulnerable prisoners,” said Nicole Kief, Joey’s PLS legal advocate and the report’s author.
The report finds that both CSC and BC Corrections officers use force in response to prisoners in emotional distress and as a tool to coerce compliance, even when there is no immediate risk to safety. It argues that relying on physical force in these circumstances creates an adversarial environment that compromises safety and wellbeing for both prisoners and staff.
“This report is designed to bring prisoners’ stories to the forefront and highlight the way even ‘justified’ uses of force can create environments of mistrust, trauma and fear,” said Ms. Kief. “Eliminating acts of force, as far as possible, is to the benefit of BC Corrections and CSC, as well as to the people in their custody.”
As part of PLS’s review, BC Corrections made internal materials available to PLS, including video footage and internal reports about many use of force incidents. “We commend BC Corrections for their commitment to transparency and accountability,” said Ms. Kief. “It is unfortunate CSC was not equally transparent.” The report calls for greater public accountability when officers use force, recommending the BC Investigation and Standards Office review every use of force against prisoners in BC Corrections custody. It also calls for prisoners’ voices to be heard in use of force reviews and for prisoners to have access to their personal information when force is used against them.
The report also examines the role of prison medical professionals, who check prisoners for injuries after officers use force. “We found that policies fail to ensure prison medical staff meet their ethical obligations to act with undivided loyalty to their patients and to document and report signs of ill-treatment,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, PLS’s Executive Director.
The report makes 87 recommendations for change, including:
• Using force only when necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person, and never to coerce compliance.
• Limiting Emergency Response Teams to emergencies involving imminent threats of serious physical harm, such as hostage takings or riots.
• Providing officers with in-depth training on working with people with mental health disabilities, particularly when they work at treatment centres, on mental health units, on segregation units, and as members of Emergency Response Teams.
• Creating specialized officer-nurse teams to respond jointly to situations involving emotional or medical distress, following police-health partnerships in the community.
• Developing and expanding mechanisms for prisoners with serious mental health needs, including those who chronically self-harm, to reside at community psychiatric facilities.
• Authorizing the Investigation and Standards Office to review every use of force in BC Corrections facilities.
To view the report, click here.
Media contacts:
Nicole Kief, Legal Advocate
604-636-0470
nkief@pls-bc.ca
Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
by Web Master | May 3, 2019 | News, Submissions
Bill C-83 has undergone some amendments since we made our submissions to government in November, 2018. However, PLS is still concerned that the Bill does not take Canada’s use of isolation out of the United Nation’s definition of solitary confinement, and recent case law confirms that the Bill would not survive scrutiny under the Charter. The Bill is now before the Senate. You can read our submissions to the Senate committee reviewing Bill C-83 here.
by Web Master | May 3, 2019 | News, Submissions
The Correctional Service Canada classifies prisoners to higher security if they have a high “institutional adjustment” rating. Prisoners’ Legal Services is concerned that this factor is being applied in a discriminatory way against vulnerable groups, including Indigenous prisoners and those who suffer from mental disabilities. Click here to read our open letter to CSC Commissioner Anne Kelly.
by Web Master | Feb 28, 2019 | News Releases
February 27, 2019 – Burnaby – Prisoners’ Legal Services
Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) filed an injunction in federal court on behalf of Joey Toutsaint, a federal prisoner with serious mental health issues who has spent more than 2,000 days in segregation in Correctional Service Canada custody. Mr. Toutsaint is currently in segregation at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, where he is self-harming on a regular basis and says he thinks of suicide almost every day. The injunction argues he is at risk of death if he is not transferred to a treatment centre.
“It is unconscionable that someone with Mr. Toutsaint’s mental health issues would be held for so long by the government in conditions the United Nations considers torture or cruel treatment,” said Nicole Kief, a Legal Advocate at Prisoners’ Legal Services. “If he isn’t considered inadmissible to segregation, it is hard to imagine who would be.”
Mr. Toutsaint is an Indigenous man from northern Saskatchewan who grew up on the Black Lake Denesuline First Nation reserve. He experienced trauma as a young person that continued during his time in prison. He spent several years at Edmonton Institution, now notorious for its culture of fear, intimidation and bullying, where he suffered both physical and sexual violence. Mr. Toutsaint was recently diagnosed by an independent psychiatrist with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder.
Mr. Toutsaint has a very lengthy history of self-injury, which includes cutting, head-banging, punching himself in the face, choking himself and biting himself. He has been on suicide watch numerous times and placed in restraints to prevent him from hurting himself. He has been OC sprayed and confronted by guards in riot gear (known as the Emergency Response Team) in response to his self-harming. In May of 2018, he slit his throat, severing his jugular vein and suffering extensive blood loss.
“My body is covered in scars. I used to cut from side to side, but now I go up and down because I’m running out of space. I used to take out my anger on other people, but now I take it out on myself. I feel broken,” Mr. Toutsaint said. “When I worry that the Emergency Response Team is coming, I wait with a razor blade to my neck. I’ve been through that so many times and I can’t go through that again.”
In June of 2017, a CSC psychologist found that Mr. Toutsaint’s mental health was deteriorating in segregation. An independent psychiatrist also concluded, in October of 2018, that Mr. Toutsaint’s psychiatric problems were greatly exacerbated by his isolation and that being in solitary confinement was making him more suicidal.
Despite these findings, Mr. Toutsaint has continued to be placed in isolation, where he continues to self-harm on a regular basis. CSC mental health staff have repeatedly found him fit to remain in segregation.
“Mr. Toutsaint’s case illustrates the need for independent health care services for prisoners in Canada. Why does an independent psychiatrist consider him to be clearly suffering from major mental illnesses and at risk of suicide in segregation, while CSC health care professionals consider him fit for segregation?” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.
Mr. Toutsaint has made numerous requests to be transferred to a treatment centre to get help with his mental illnesses and his self-harming. These requests have gone unanswered.
In May of 2018, PLS assisted Mr. Toutsaint in filing a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission about discrimination on the basis of his mental disability and his Indigenous identity.
Today’s injunction asks the court to move Mr. Toutsaint to the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon and provide him with meaningful treatment for his trauma and loss as well as access to Dene traditional practices, arguing that failure to do so would place him at high risk of life-threatening self-harm and even death.
Media contacts:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
Nicole Kief
nkief@ps-bc.ca
604-636-0470
by Web Master | Feb 22, 2019 | News Releases
February 22, 2019 – Burnaby – Prisoners’ Legal Services
Maximum security Kent Institution has canceled Prisoners’ Legal Services’ legal clinics for segregated prisoners, despite the BC Court of Appeal’s January 7, 2019 order that segregated prisoners must be provided enhanced rights to legal counsel.
PLS has been providing the bi-monthly clinics to prisoners in Kent’s segregation unit since February 2015. PLS started the clinics in recognition that prisoners with severe mental health issues often end up in segregation. These prisoners may not know that legal services exist or seek out legal services by phone.
Research demonstrates that segregation can result in depression and feelings of hopelessness. Symptoms of existing mental disabilities can be exacerbated in segregation. The United Nations considers the use of solitary confinement for more than 15 days, or for any amount of time for someone with an existing mental disability, to constitute torture or cruel treatment.
“Some prisoners with serious mental disabilities end up doing a cross-country tour of maximum security segregation units, in what feels like an endless cycle of isolation. These prisoners may not know that legal help is available to them in British Columbia”, said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of PLS.
“Some prisoners with mental disabilities need to develop a trusting relationship with legal service providers, which can only be done face-to-face. The clinics were intended to ensure that the most vulnerable prisoners have access to legal services to assist them to get out of solitary confinement as soon as possible”, said Ms. Metcalfe.
On January 15, 2019, Kent’s Assistant Warden of Management Services notified PLS that Kent has canceled the clinics without explanation. PLS followed up with the Warden of Kent on January 18, 2019 and with the acting Deputy Commissioner for the Pacific Region on January 28, 2019. PLS did not receive a response until after it contacted CSC Commissioner, Anne Kelly, on February 6, 2019.
On February 8, 2019, Cari Turi, the acting Pacific Region Deputy Commissioner for CSC confirmed the cancellation of the clinics, citing the BC Court of Appeal’s January 7, 2019 order for additional policies and procedures in relation to segregation as the reason that Kent is “no longer able to accommodate the group clinics”.
“We are dismayed that Kent is not following the spirit of the BC Court of Appeal’s order by further restricting segregated prisoners’ access to legal support when they need it the most”, said Ms. Metcalfe.
Media contact:
Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470
by J Metcalfe | Jan 9, 2019 | Submissions
PLS’ Submissions on Bill C-83 – Amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act
On November 19, 2018, Prisoners’ Legal Services made submissions to the federal government on Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. Bill C-83 makes changes to the laws on solitary confinement, but PLS argues they don’t go far enough to protect prisoners’ rights.
Read PLS’ submissions here.
Read the Canadian Bar Association’s submissions here
