B.C. neglected to conduct formal prison inspections for 10 years, says ombudsperson

A new report from the Office of the B.C. Ombudsperson says the province neglected to conduct official prison inspections for more than a decade, despite provinciallaws and international conventionsrequiring it to do so.

The report saysprisoninspections are key to ensuring the safety of thepublic, inmates and staff and to check that prisonsare being run according to law.

"The ball was dropped when that responsibility went from one ministry to another, and that was clearly not a priority for the Ministry of the Solicitor General," said B.C. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke.

• Read the full report from the Office of the Ombudsperson

Responsibility for the inspections at the province's nine correctional facilities, which house about 2,400 people on any given day,was transferred from the Attorney General to the Solicitor General in 2003.

The report outlines that no inspections were conducted between 2001and 2012.

Inspections are legally required underthe B.C. Corrections Act and in accordance with various United Nations conventions Canada has ratified over the past few decades.

Budget cuts affected priorities

Chalkesaid part of the issue was that a transition plan wasn't put in place when responsibility for inspectionsswitched ministries.

But the report goes into further detail about what the province said kept itfrom conducting reviews: a 33 per cent budget cut in 2002 that resulted in the closure of 10 correctional facilities and a third of correctionsstaff in the adult custody division.

The report also outlines theprovince argued it had conducted periodic inspections, but the ombudsperson said they were issue-specific and only "undertaken in reaction to a critical incident," which doesn't meet provincial inspection laws.

Inspections didn't resume until2012when the solicitor general implemented anewsetofinspection protocols.

New guidelines also criticized

"We asked Corrections Branch staff why they did not simply adopt the inspections model previously used by the [Investigations, Inspections and Standards Office]," said the report.

"We were told that the branch believed the IISO inspection process was 'not helpful'for correctional centres because it did not sufficiently inform future planning needs.

"Corrections Branch staff also told us that wardens often rejected recommendations made in the IISO inspection reports."

Theombudspersontook issue withthe new inspection guidelinesbecause they lack an explicit purpose, are inconsistently implemented, and don'tprovide inspectors with enough training.

The report also says the new protocols don't ensure inspections are undertaken by an independent and impartial party.

Recommendations

Chalke has now made seven recommendations to the province.

These include revising the new inspection protocols, developing training materials for inspectors and assigning at least one independent person to inspection teams.

"When implemented, these changes will ensure that inspections give priority to matters related to inmates' human rights, health and safety," said the ombudsperson's office in a written statement.

The office says the ministries have accepted all seven recommendations, which are expected to be put into effect by 2018.

With files from Farrah Merali