Ontario Ombudsman to 'raise questions' with province about segregation in jails
CBC
The office of Ontario's ombudsman says it will "raise questions" with the Ministry of the Solicitor General after a CBC investigation showed the use of segregation has grown in recent years and is happening at a higher rate in Hamilton than any other provincial jail.
Segregation, also known as solitary confinement, is when prisoners are physically and socially isolated in a cell for 22 hours or more.
A CBC Hamilton analysis of data showed segregation in Ontario jails has been ramping up since 2019, despite the Ontario Human Rights Commission urging the province to phase out segregation in its jails since 2016.
At the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre (HWDC), it has been happening at a far greater rate than the rest of Ontario and has met the United Nations' threshold for torture, with some segregation periods lasting as long as 21 days.
The investigation also found a third of people going into segregation at the Hamilton jail had a mental health alert on file.
Many of the people in the Hamilton jail and other provincial jails haven't been convicted for the charges that landed them behind bars.
On Monday, Linda Williamson, spokesperson for the office of the ombudsman, told CBC Hamilton by email that segregation is "an issue of considerable concern."
The office will be asking questions about the issue but Williamson did not confirm when it would do so or what those specific questions would be.
Canada's former corrections investigator called the CBC News findings "alarming" and said there should be a review into why segregation use has become more common since early 2019. He also called for an end to segregation.
The province said it has "made progress" on keeping people out of segregation, has made annual investments into jails to improve conditions, and said sometimes segregation is necessary to protect people.
It also said there have been "substantial reductions in the length of time that inmates are spending in segregation conditions" and "regulatory amendments are now in force" to address legal limits on the length of segregation placements, prohibit segregation for people with mental health issues and do independent reviews of those in segregation.
The Ontario government announced Monday a plan to hire 200 more correctional staff and add 430 more beds to provincial jails by 2026 — but announced no new beds for Hamilton.
It also said it would re-open the Regional Intermittent Centre at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London and the Toronto Intermittent Centre at the Toronto South Detention Centre.
Data obtained by The Canadian Press through freedom-of-information laws shows the vast majority of the province's jails are over capacity. As of Sept. 30, 2023, there was an average of 8,889 people in provincial jails, well over the 7,848-person capacity. Overall, the jails were operating at 113 per cent capacity at that time.
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