A segregation cell in the now-closed Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario.
Prisoners in Hamilton put in segregation at far greater rate than any other Ontario jail, data shows | CBC News LoadedOntario has long faced calls to end segregation in its jails, but a CBC investigation shows prisoners are being isolated more often. In Hamilton, it's happening at a higher rate than elsewhere in the province, meeting the UN's threshold for torture.
Cedar Hopperton, who was in the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre in 2018, says her longest stay in segregation was a month. During that period, more than 1,408 prisoners were placed in segregation 11,494 times at HWDC. That's the equivalent of an estimated 31 placements per prisoner in a year. Howard Sapers was previously Canada's correctional investigator and was an independent adviser to Ontario on corrections matters. The federal government describes Sapers as a "prominent expert on effective and humane corrections management."
That means Toronto South has roughly triple HWDC's population and yet HWDC's segregation rate is roughly 10 times higher. They did the research while being members of an advisory panel the federal government formed when it was replacing segregation in federal prisons with a new system in 2019. Sapers was chair of the panel.
The short timeframe of the data analysis can't determine whether the pandemic had a long-term impact on segregation rates. "For years, front-line correctional workers and their union have been sounding the alarm on these ongoing systemic issues and advocating for better working conditions, which in turn are better living conditions for those in custody."
The average length of segregation was a day and a half, but the longest at HWDC was 21 days — which is the longest segregation stay in the province for a man that year and exceeds 15 days, the threshold the UN considers to be torture.on segregation in 2019. The province did not respond to CBC on how or why the cap was allowed to be exceeded in Hamilton. It did say it was "important to note that an inmate can request a placement in segregation conditions.
Morrison, the ministry's spokesperson, said that in some cases it is necessary to separate people from other prisoners for "health, safety and/or security reasons." "If your only way of keeping people safe is by isolating them, you're not operating a very safe correctional institution," Sapers said.He said there are three inmates in many cells, which means one person sleeps on the floor while two sleep in bunk beds.Hopperton, who spent time in segregation for what she said were administrative reasons and not misconduct, said she believes the true segregation rate is higher.
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