Canada promised to end solitary confinement, report shows it has not

Report finds nearly 10 percent of federal inmates in ‘structured intervention units’ held for more than 15 days, amounting to torture.

Montreal, Canada – More than a quarter of inmates held in specialised units of Canadian federal prisons are subject to conditions akin to solitary confinement, a recent report found, while one in 10 have been kept in conditions that constitute torture under United Nations standards. The revelations come less than two years after Canada passed legislation that it promised would end solitary confinement practices, and which the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the agency in charge of federal prisons, said would usher in “a transformative era” in corrections. The law was passed in 2019 after civil liberty groups sued over the country’s previous “administrative segregation” system, which they argued violated Canada’s constitution and the rights of prisoners.