Some female prison inmates are spending years in solitary confinement at the discretion of prison authorities and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says that’s unconstitutional.
The association launched a civil suit Monday, challenging laws that allow federal prisons to keep inmates in segregation for prolonged periods.
The suit is hinged on the case of an aboriginal woman who has spent almost four years in segregation.
Grace Pastine, a lawyer with the association, said the suits seeks drastic reform of what she calls an “extremely problematic” system that’s increasingly used as a means to maintain order in correctional facilities.
“We don’t think solitary confinement should be used as a tool for housing prisoners long term at all,” she said, adding the current system violates human rights and does not encourage rehabilitation.
The association is targeting the so-called management protocol system which gives prison authorities the discretion to impose segregation indefinitely.
Pastine noted there are no limits to how long a prisoner can be kept in solitude under the protocol. While there are ongoing reviews of the segregation, there isn’t independent or judicial oversight.
At present, female prisoners are expected to “earn” their way out of long-term solitary confinement but Pastine said there is no objective criteria for determining when the segregation must end.
The management protocol is different than disciplinary segregation laws that permit inmates to be isolated for up to 45 days. Pastine said the association wants that limit applied to all cases of solitary confinement.
“We are asking the courts for a lot,” she said.
“Ideally what we hope the court will do is find that no one — no man, no woman — should be subject to these lengthy periods of solitary confinement with no limitations and no judicial oversight.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of BobbyLee Worm, a 24-year-old aboriginal woman who has spent over three-and-a-half years in a concrete cell at the Fraser Valley Institution since her sentence began in June 2006.
Deemed a “high risk” to herself and others, Worm is deprived of “significant human contact” for 23 hours a day. She has been involved in fights with other prisoners and was ordered to remain behind bars by Canada’s parole board.
Pastine said Worm has suffered severe physical, psychological and social trauma during her time in isolation. She said Worm was unable to receive adequate treatment for her existing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Worm, a first-time offender originally from Saskatchewan, is currently serving six years and four months for offences including robbery.
She is scheduled to be released in October 2012 but is eligible for another statutory release review this May.
Pastine said about 10 per cent of federal inmates have been subjected to solitary confinement in 2008 and 2009, with 37 per cent of those having spent 60 days or more in isolation, according to a Correctional Service of Canada report.
A total of seven women have been put on the management protocol system since its introduction in 2005, all of them aboriginal.
A spokesman for Canada Corrections was not immediately available for comment.
