Vancouver, BC: On behalf of 24-year old prisoner BobbyLee Worm, the BCCLA filed a lawsuit on Friday, March 4, 2011 to end the practice of holding women in solitary confinement for months and years at a time in women’s prisons. Since the start of her incarceration in 2006, Ms. Worm, who suffered extreme physical, emotional and sexual abuse throughout her childhood and adolescence, has been subjected to extensive periods of solitary confinement, much of it while on a program called the Management Protocol.
Grace Pastine, BCCLA Litigation Director: “The devastating psychological and physiological effects of solitary confinement, particularly for women who have previously been abused, are well-documented. Human rights bodies have found the practice of prolonged solitary confinement to be either torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”
While in solitary confinement – or “segregation”, as it is known in Canadian prison terminology – a prisoner may spend up to 23 hours alone in her cell each day. Under the Management Protocol, a term used to describe a program of intensive punitive measures employed in federal women’s prisons, women can be placed in lengthy solitary confinement if prison officials deem them to be security or safety risks. No analogous program exists for male prisoners. Seven women have been on the Management Protocol since it was first created in 2005. Currently, all the women on the protocol are aboriginal.
Carmen Cheung, Counsel at the BCCLA: “The decision to place a woman on the Management Protocol is made without the benefit of an independent decision-maker, and there is no judicial oversight on its use, making it particularly susceptible to abuse. Once a prisoner is placed on the Management Protocol, it is exceedingly difficult for her to return to normal prison conditions. In practice, a woman can spend years on the Management Protocol.”
Today’s lawsuit seeks declarations that the Management Protocol and the sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act providing for prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement are unconstitutional.
Robert Janes, lawyer for the BCCLA: “No one should have to endure the barbaric conditions of prolonged solitary confinement. The extreme treatment Ms. Worm has suffered violates her constitutional rights, particularly her rights to liberty and security of the person, and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.”
Read BobbyLee Worm’s Notice of Civil Claim here
Read additional materials about Ms. Worm’s case here
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Grace Pastine, BCCLA Litigation Director, 604-630-9751
Carmen Cheung, Counsel at the BCCLA, 604-630-9758
BACKGROUNDER
What is solitary confinement?
It is the practice of maintaining a prisoner in a state of near isolation under conditions which result in significant periods of sensory deprivation and social isolation. A prisoner placed in solitary confinement can be confined to his or her cell, deprived of meaningful human contact, for up to 23 hours a day, for months at a time.
Who is BobbyLee Worm?
BobbyLee Worm is a 24-year old aboriginal woman originally from Saskatchewan. She is a first time offender, serving a sentence of 6 years and 4 months for offences including robbery. Her sentence is currently scheduled to end in October 2012. She has served the majority of her sentence in segregation.
Ms. Worm suffers from a serious history of trauma and abuse. Many of her family members were sent to residential schools. She suffered extreme physical, emotional and sexual abuse throughout her childhood and adolescence. She was introduced to drugs by peers and was addicted at an early age. She has, however, achieved three years of institutional sobriety. Ms. Worm was first placed on the Management Protocol in 2008. While in solitary confinement, Ms. Worm has been confined to her cell, deprived of meaningful human contact, for up to 23 hours a day, for months at a time. She has spent a total of over three years in solitary confinement.
The BCCLA’s concerns with prolonged solitary confinement:
Solitary confinement has been described by Canadian prison expert Michael Jackson as “the most individually destructive, psychologically crippling and socially alienating experience that could conceivably exist within the borders of the country.”
The detrimental effects of long-term isolation are well-documented, and include psychosis, hallucinations, insomnia and confusion. Psychological distress may manifest itself in physical ways. For example, the BCCLA has learned of a case involving a mentally ill inmate who reacted to situations involving stress and anxiety – including being placed in solitary confinement – by repeatedly banging his head. His head-banging became so severe that his head became permanently disfigured, and he suffered from severe head injuries.
The Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement, adopted in December 2007 at the International Psychological Trauma Symposium, notes that while individuals may react to solitary confinement differently, “a significant number of individuals will experience serious health problems regardless of the specific conditions, regardless of time and place, and regardless of pre-existing personal factors.”
For the full Istanbul Statement, click here
Because of the severe effects of prolonged isolation, prisoners who are subjected to segregation in prison are rarely able to function in the general prison population – or elsewhere – if and when they are released from solitary confinement. The damaging effects of solitary confinement increase the longer the prisoner is kept isolated, and the harsh and punitive effects of prolonged solitary confinement are such that many of the rehabilitative functions of incarceration are frustrated by the confinement. Solitary confinement can create mental illness where none previously existed and can exacerbate pre-existing illness, ultimately leaving individuals more damaged and and less capable of living a law-abiding life.
How can a prisoner be placed in solitary confinement?
In Canadian federal prisons, a prisoner may be subjected to solitary confinement in one of two ways. The first is through “disciplinary segregation,” which is seen as a punitive measure, and can only be imposed after a prisoner has been found guilty of a serious disciplinary infraction by an independent adjudicatory body. Disciplinary segregation is limited to 30 days unless there are multiple convictions, in which case segregation remains capped at 45 consecutive days.
The second way is through “administrative segregation”, which is designed to separate a prisoner from the general population for safety or security reasons. The Management Protocol is a form of administrative segregation. With administrative segregation, there is no hearing before an independent chairperson – an individual can be placed into solitary confinement based solely on a finding by the institutional head that the prisoner’s presence in the general population would cause a security or safety risk. Significantly, there is no limit on the amount of time a prisoner may be held in administrative segregation because it is viewed as a non-punitive measure, though the effects of solitary confinement remain the same regardless of whether it is imposed for disciplinary or administrative purposes.
What is the Management Protocol?
The Management Protocol is a program developed by Correctional Services of Canada for handling female prisoners who are considered “high risk”. No similar program exists for male prisoners. A key feature of the Management Protocol is its use of prolonged and indefinite administrative segregation (i.e. solitary confinement), which can leave women in isolation for up to 23 hours a day.
The Management Protocol consists of three “steps”. These steps constitute a sliding scale of inmate isolation and access to prison services and programming. Depending on their conduct, prisoners graduate to less restrictive steps of the Protocol or regress to more restrictive steps. In each of these steps, however, the prisoner’s physical liberty and ability to associate with other inmates is extremely limited. Women assigned to the most restrictive step of the Protocol have no contact with other women prisoners, often for months.
There is no limit on the amount of time a woman may spend in each step of the Protocol. There is no timeline for graduating from one step to the next. Once a prisoner is placed on the Management Protocol, it is exceedingly difficult for her to return to normal prison conditions. The Management Protocol imposes a “zero tolerance” policy for aggressive behaviour. In the case of the Protocol, “aggressive behaviour” is broadly defined to include both physical and “emotional” aggression – the latter including behaviours that are unrelated to a woman’s level of risk, such as swearing or being disrespectful to staff. In practice, a woman can spend years – perhaps the majority of her sentence – on the Management Protocol.
Seven women have been on the Management Protocol since it was first created in 2005. Currently, all the women on the protocol are aboriginal, suggesting that the Protocol is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.
What are the alternatives to solitary confinement?
There are many alternatives to solitary confinement. First, resources should be directed at preventing and diffusing situations that lead to the need to isolate a prisoner, rather than relying on solitary confinement as a solution. It is critical to have a range of non-violent, non-coercive interventions before solitary confinement is used. Individuals and groups are available to diffuse difficult situations and to support women who are in crisis, including counsellors, psychiatrists, and peer and community support groups.
Prisoners who are unmanageable in one setting often behave reasonably in another. Providing prisoners opportunities for work, education, and special programming to increase social ties and skills has been demonstrated to reduce violence and confrontation.
Solitary confinement has increasingly been used as a tool to warehouse prisoners with mental health problems. Solitary confinement can have a particularly devastating impact on those with preexisting mental health problems, and serves absolutely no rehabilitative effect.
There may be some instances where it is demonstrably necessary to separate a prisoner from the general prison population due to concerns about security or safety. Sometimes prisoners are withdrawn at their own request or for longer-term protective custody. Sometimes they are segregated is times of crisis or when they might be at risk of self-injury or suicide. In those types of extraordinary situations, solitary confinement should only be used as a last resort, and it should be extremely limited in duration. The prisoner must continue to have access to meaningful, daily human interaction, whether in the form of programs, other forms of rehabilitation, or supervised contact with other prisoners. Prison officials must be able to demonstrate that the segregation is necessary.
The highly authoritative 1996 Commission of inquiry into certain events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, conducted by Madame Justice Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, expressed serious concerns about the indefinite and prolonged nature of solitary confinement permitted under the administrative segregation regime.
A key recommendation of Madam Justice Arbour’s final report was that prisoners should not be made to spend more 30 consecutive days in administrative segregation, and that in any event, segregation should be imposed no more than twice in a calendar year. Madam Justice Arbour recommended that in situations where an institution could demonstrate that a prisoner should not be returned to the general population, prisons should pursue other options, such as transferring the prisoner to another institution, placement in a mental health unit or other forms of intensive supervision.
