Nova Scotia judges say jail violated woman's charter rights

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judgehas delivered a stinging indictment of the way a woman was treated at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Centre, saying her constitutional rights were violated by jail staff.

The comments come in a decision by Justice Gerald Moir that was released Friday.Moir was hearing an appeal of the sentence handed an Amherst woman for assaulting her mother.

The woman, Kesha Melissa Casey, was sentenced to 90 days in jail, less credit for time served awaiting the resolution of her case.

Casey spent 19 days in the Burnsidejail and that's where her problems escalated.

Casey is bipolar and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She takes medication for both conditions. But while in the Burnsidejail, Casey couldn't get the drugs she needed.

"She endured the agony of being in jail without medication for a major psychiatric illness," Moir wrote in rejecting the Crown's appeal.

"This was not for want of trying by Ms. Casey, her lawyer, and Provincial Court judges. Despite their efforts, the institution provided no care."

While she was in Burnside, two provincial court judges, including Judge Paul Scovil who sentenced her, instructed the jail to provide Casey with the medication she needed.

"Judge [Patrick]Curran endorsed his recommendation on the remand and he made it clear that the failure of Burnside to provide medical attention was unacceptable," Moir wrote.

"He [Judge Curran]ordered assessment on a priority basis 'in order to obtain her required medication.'The institution did nothing," Moir added.

The Crown objected to Judge Scovil's decision to give Casey two days credit for every day she sat in jail awaiting the conclusion of her case. That two-for-one credit exceeds the standard set down in the Criminal Code.

"However,we have here an egregious violation by the state of Ms. Casey's constitutional rights while she was in jail," Moir wrote in his appeal decision. "The only effective remedy is one that goes to the time she spent living under that violation."