Social Policy in Ontario

Jail report recommendations on mentally ill ‘positive and progressive,’ lawyer says

Posted on March 29, 2015 in Child & Family Policy Context

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OttawaCitizen.com – local news
March 27, 2015.   Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen

The lawyer for a mentally ill Ottawa woman who reached a human rights settlement with the province after spending more than six months in a segregation cell applauded new recommendations that would change how mentally ill female inmates are treated behind bars.

“With these very positive and progressive recommendations I would say that Ontario is definitely on the right path,” said Paul Champ, a lawyer for Christina Jahn. “It’s really a shift in culture in corrections that is really long overdue.”

The report, which was released this week, recommends the creation of both “step down” and “stabilization unit” that could meet the needs of female inmates with major mental health issues that cannot be met within the general jail population. The stabilization unit is intended for prisoners who require intensive mental health services and who may exhibit self-harming behaviour, while the step down unit could meet the needs of inmates who don’t pose a risk to themselves or others.

Both units would be staffed by mental health professionals in select correctional facilities. The report also recommended the creation of a separate female-only treatment centre similar to the specialized St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre for men in Brockville.

The recommendations flowed from a settlement Jahn reached with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in 2013 after accusing the government of discrimination by locking her up for 23 hours a day in a windowless cell at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre instead of treating her mental illness.

Jahn, who was in jail for assault, resisting arrest, shoplifting and causing a disturbance, said she was denied her cancer medication, had the lights left on in her cell night and day, was forced to sleep on the floor without a mattress and had her cell’s water shut off for days at a time. She spent 210 days in solitary confinement over separate stays at the jail in 2011 and 2012. Jahn has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and borderline anti-social personality disorder.

Jahn received an undisclosed cash settlement along with an agreement from the ministry to change the way it operates by screening all inmates for mental illness, devising treatment plans and training staff to better deal with the mentally ill.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services have 18 months to implement the latest recommendations or provide a full and detailed rationale why they won’t.

The report was released at the same time as an announcement by Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi Thursday that the province would conduct a comprehensive review of their segregation policies in provincial jails.

Naqvi said the review will consult with mental health experts, civil liberty groups, correctional staff and organizations like the Ombudsman’s Office and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. According to Naqvi, about five per cent of the province’s approximately 7,700 prisoners are being held in segregation each day.

As part of the Jahn settlement, the ministry has already prepared a summary guide outlining an inmate’s rights and the procedures for segregation.

Jahn’s lawyer welcomed the review of the segregation policy.

“The use of segregation and solitary confinement is increasing in every prison system that we have, provincially and federally, and despite numerous reports nationally and internationally about the destructive impact of solitary confinement we have not seen any of the jurisdictions take meaningful steps to address the problem of segregation as a tool to manage mental illness,” said Champ. “The fact that they are taking this opportunity to look at it more broadly I think is very commendable.”

< http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/jail-report-recommendations-on-mentally-ill-positive-and-progressive-lawyer-says >

Tags: corrections, crime prevention, disabilities, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living

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