A TOUR LIKE NONE OTHER Senators Go to Jail

Canadian Senators who toured correctional facilities between 2017 and 2021 say the Correctional Service of Canada is failing to comply with basic human-rights standards in its treatment of prisoners who cannot safely be managed within the general prison population.

Senators say the Correctional Service of Canada is failing to comply with basic human rights standards in its treatment of prisoners who cannot safely be managed within the general prison population.

Canadian Senators toured correctional facilities between 2017 and 2021—years that spanned the passage of Bill C-83. The legislation amended the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) to create structured intervention units (SIUs), which are intended to end the use of segregation.

Unlike segregation, prisoners in SIUs are entitled to spend a minimum of four hours each day outside their cell and have the right to interact with others for at least two hours a day.

In addition to violations of the CCRA, the Senators found that correctional facilities are in breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights as well as international human rights treaties, including the United Nations’ Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Nelson Mandela Rules).

The Senators say in their report entitled Senators Go to Jail that the CCRA requires significant reform to end the injustices. To this end, Senator Kim Pate has introduced Bill S-230 in an attempt to make some of those required changes.