solitary confinement

Bill holds a virtual press conference in Ottawa on June 21, 2021 (Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

Ending solitary confinement in Canada’s prisons, take 2

Justin Ling: Ottawa is reappointing an expert panel—disbanded a year ago because it couldn’t do its work—to study the unconstitutional use of solitary confinement in prisons

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair arrives at a news conference Tuesday June 9, 2020 in Ottawa. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair is stepping in to ensure important data is handed over to an advisory panel tasked with overseeing segregation of federal prisoners after the panel complained the Correctional Service of Canada blocked it from doing its job. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The numbers are in on solitary confinement. They’re not good.

Paul Wells: A preliminary report—which nearly didn’t happen due to government inaction—shows reform has been partial at best, with prisoners still being denied ‘meaningful human contact’

Bill Blair orders prison data to be turned over, but does the data even exist?

Correctional Service Canada is trying to update its inmate tracking system, while the panel tasked to study solitary confinement is still waiting for any usable information

Blair talks on his phone while he stands with staff on Wellington Street in Ottawa on March 13, 2020 (CP/Sean Kilpatrick)

Another farce on Bill Blair’s watch

Paul Wells: How badly do things have to go for a government-appointed panel to shut down because it got no usable data and no help from the minister?

There will be no justice in the prison death of Soleiman Faqiri

Evan Solomon: The police completed their report into his death. Their answer, emailed to the family: no one will be charged.

How Adam Capay’s ordeal might set him free

Ontario’s ombudsman condemns system that leaves a man in solitary for four years. Could mistreatment of Capay scuttle the murder case against him?

Why Adam Capay spent 1,560 days in solitary

From 2016: The UN would call Adam Capay’s treatment torture. In a Canadian prison, he was just another inmate in segregation.

Fifty-two months of torture and the four men responsible

Scott Gilmore on the case of Adam Capay, and how the province of Ontario allowed his horrific torture to happen

Why it’s time to end solitary confinement

Child advocate Irwin Elman on the impact of ‘child protection’ on Indigenous youth, and why it’s time to end solitary confinement

Why do we still put young people in solitary confinement?

A new Ontario report shows how isolation for jailed youth can be dehumanizing and riddled with legal violations. How do we fix it?