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Written Testimony for abolishsolitary.caBy Leilah Mouna The conflict with this form of imprisonment lies not in finding faults in its positive attributes or disproving its fundamental purpose of rehabilitation. Rather, importance lies in proving that without doubt, the current and prolonged use of solitary confinement is morally and legally corrupt. In North America, home of liberty and human rights, over 80,000 prisoners are isolated in solitary confinement. We purposely inflict such lengthened isolation, when it has been proven to cause mental illness, physical harm, a decreased ability for inmates to become members of society again, and direct infringement against the Universal…

Comments on Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and conditional Release Act and another Act, by the Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement, Paul Copeland, CM, LLB, life bencher, and Lynn McDonald, CM, PhD, LLD (hon, professor emerita. Introduction: Members of the Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement are unconvinced of the government’s claim that “structured intervention units” will bring about the abolition of solitary confinement as claimed by the minister, or come close to that goal. The language is different, but there is nothing to ensure that the new measures (1) will be implemented properly (too many loopholes…

The Globe and Mail | Tom Cardoso, Crime and justice reporter | Janice DicksonPublished October 26, 2020 MPs from all parties on a House of Commons committee say they support studying systemic discrimination in federal prisons, including inmate risk assessments, days after a Globe and Mail investigation found these tools are biased against Indigenous and Black people. Jack Harris, the NDP’s public safety critic, said before a meeting of the public safety committee that a study is an “extremely high” priority after he introduced a motion that calls for “immediate measures to be taken to provide expeditious redress for systemic discrimination in federal prisons, including…

Hon. Brian PallisterPremierProvince of Manitoba450 BroadwayWinnipeg, MB R3C 0V8November 2, 2020 Dear Premier Pallister: Re: Solitary Confinement We wish to raise with you our concerns, widely shared by the public, on the continued use of solitary confinement in corrections. Our aim is abolition, but we would hope to see major reforms achieved even short of that goal. We expect that the gross overrepresentation of Indigenous persons in solitary (already over-represented in the prison population) will not be curtailed short of legislation to abolish solitary. As you may know, the federal government has abandoned its appeals on two major decisions on solitary. This means that…

Campaign for the Abolition of Solitary Confinement June 1, 2020 Sent by email to: doug.downey@pc.ola.org Hon. Doug Downey Attorney General of Ontario Dear Mr. Attorney: Re: Solitary Confinement Now that Ontario is gradually returning to normal activities, we wish to raise with you our concerns, widely shared by the public, on the continued use of solitary confinement in corrections. Our aim is abolition, but we would hope to see major reforms achieved even short of that goal. We expect that the gross over-representation of Indigenous persons in solitary (already over-represented in the prison population) will not be curtailed short of legislation to abolish solitary. You are…

Hon Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General and Hon. David Eby, Attorney General, Government of British Columbia 18 January 2020 Dear Mr Farnworth and Mr Eby We were encouraged to hear that the B.C. government is looking at the issue of solitary confinement (separate confinement), possibly by legislation, possibly by regulation. Naturally we would prefer legislation, as it is harder to undo it when put into place than regulations. You are aware that Yukon is the first jurisdiction to legislate limits on solitary: 15 days at any one time, a 5 day space between, and a maximum of 60 days over…