Litigation Director Grace Pastine will speak at the upcoming John Howard Society Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting. On Sunday, October 6 at 10:30am, Grace will speak on the subject of solitary confinement and mental health at the Coast Plaza Hotel.
In March of 2011, the BCCLA filed a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of BobbyLee Worm, a 26 year-old Aboriginal
woman from Saskatchewan who was held in solitary confinement for more than three and a half years while in federal prison. We
announced the settlement of that lawsuit in May of this year.
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association challenged the use of a management protocol that led to many being detained in solitary confinement for extended periods of time and reached an important settlement with Correctional Services Canada that led to the end of this type of solitary confinement. However, many in provincial and federal correctional institutions are still subjected to extended periods of segregation that could damage their mental health.
A full pdf of the conference can be found here.
In our most recent newsletter, we discuss the suit and settlement in depth on page 10. See the newsletter article here.
