Ashley Smith choked herself to death in a segregation cell in Ontario in 2007. The federal government is expected to respond to more than 100 recommendations stemming from an inquest held one year ago into her death. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS Even while it acknowledged that placing inmates in long-term isolation went against “healthy living,” the federal government Thursday rejected growing calls to put time constraints on prison segregation.
In its long-awaited response to more than 100 recommendations stemming from a coroner’s inquest held one year ago into the high-profile prison death of Ashley Smith, the Correctional Service of Canada did, however, say it would work to reduce the number of offenders placed in isolation.
It also announced that it was working to provide improved mental health care services for inmates and that it had reached an agreement to expand access to community hospital psychiatric beds for female offenders with acute mental illness. Critics, however, say it is still far short of what is needed.
Separately, Postmedia News has learned that the auditor general of Canada has agreed to monitor the correctional service’s response to “some” of the inquest recommendations and report back by 2019-20. The office had originally balked at the idea, saying that it could not do every audit asked of it.
Smith, a troubled 19-year-old from Moncton, N.B., choked to death in October 2007 after tying a piece of cloth around her neck in a segregation cell at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., in plain view of prison guards.
An Ontario coroner’s jury issued 104 recommendations, including calls for mandatory mental health assessments for female inmates within 72 hours of admission to a prison; the placement of female inmates with serious mental health problems or chronic self-injury in specialized treatment programs outside prison; and an end to indefinite or long-term segregation for female inmates.
Specifically, the jury said inmates should not be placed in isolation for more than 15 consecutive days and for more than 60 days in a year.
In its response, the correctional service said it was developing a strategy to “reframe the thinking about how segregation is used” and to “reduce the reliance on segregation” by finding more creative solutions.
“The government accepts that long periods in administrative segregation is generally not conducive to healthy living or meeting the goals of the correctional planning process,” the report said.
But the agency would not commit to restricting the length of time spent in isolation.
“There were some recommendations that could not be accepted because they would create operational difficulties and challenges to the safe management of the federal correctional system,” Don Head, the corrections commissioner, said in an internal message to staff.
Julian Roy, one of the lawyers representing Smith’s family, said he was extremely disappointed.
“The core of the jury’s recommendations was solitary confinement should never be used on women who are mentally ill. The jury in clear language recommended that the practice … be prohibited. And CSC has flatly rejected that series of recommendations,” Roy said. “We know this practice has devastating impact.”
NDP opposition critic Randall Garrison said it was “appalling” that the government was continuing to ignore reports that have raised concerns about placing inmates with mental illness in segregation.
A recent editorial in Canada’s leading medical journal said the use of segregation should be severely curtailed. Noting that there are 850 offenders in isolation on any given day — a 6.4 per cent increase over the past five years — the editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said the lack of stimulation and social interaction can lead to anxiety, depression and anger, and increases the risk of self-harm and suicide.
Meanwhile, the correctional service said that an agreement has been reached to provide access to two psychiatric beds at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group’s Brockville Mental Health Centre for female offenders with complex mental health needs.
Corrections officials are in the “final stages” of negotiating a similar agreement at the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Nova Scotia.
The correctional service already has access to 32 psychiatric beds at community hospitals in Saskatoon and Montreal for female offenders.
A corrections spokeswoman earlier this week said that almost 90 per cent of female offenders now complete mental health screening at admission and that there have been no suicides among that group since 2008.
Ashley Smith is shown surrounded by guards at Joliette Institution in Joliette, Que., on July 26, 2007.
Mary Campbell, a former senior federal public safety official, said Thursday that the addition of two psychiatric hospital beds is a start but still falls short of the need.
Campbell, who retired last year as director-general of the corrections and criminal justice directorate at Public Safety Canada, said the agency should be required to publish monthly statistics showing the number of inmates in segregation and days spent in segregation. “There is nothing secret about these numbers,” she said.
Howard Sapers, Canada’s correctional investigator, said he was disappointed that the government didn’t embrace the jury’s recommendation that female inmates have access to a prison advocate, who could advise them of their rights.
He also worried about the government’s announcement that it would be “repurposing” some hospital beds currently designated for offenders with acute mental health needs for offenders with less severe mental health problems. Officials will need to make sure that the “balance is right,” Sapers said.
Following the release of the jury’s verdict last December, the auditor general’s office said that it had “no plans” to track the government’s response to the recommendations. But in a written response to the coroner’s office in July obtained by Postmedia News, it had a change of heart.
“As we plan our future audits, we focus on areas of significance that we believe should be reported to Parliament. Therefore, we anticipate that over the next several years we will be taking into consideration the Jury’s recommendations to CSC,” the letter said. “We fully expect to be able to comment on the Department’s actions to address some of the Coroner’s Jury recommendations before 2019-2020.”
The correctional service said it will co-operate with the auditor general.
dquan@postmedia.com
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