Home / Woman settles solitary confinement lawsuit

Woman settles solitary confinement lawsuit

 
By GlobalNews.ca
Published on May 22, 2013
 

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says the federal government has settled a lawsuit with an aboriginal woman who says she was held in solitary confinement for 3 1/2 years.

The claim filed on behalf of BobbyLee Worm of Saskatchewan alleged she was segregated for up to 23 hours a day at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women east of Vancouver.

It said Worm, who was serving a six-year-sentence for robbery and other offences, was treated illegally and inhumanely.

The settlement’s terms do not allow Worm, who is 26, to disclose details.

A spokeswoman for the civil liberties group says the lawsuit helped draw attention to what she called the unconstitutional practice of long-term solitary confinement.

The group says Correctional Services of Canada announced after the lawsuit was filed that it would end the protocol used to put Worm in solitary.

CIVIL LIBERTIES CAN’T PROTECT THEMSELVES