Ontario has failed to keep mentally ill people out of segregation in jail: human rights commission

Ontario has failed to keep inmates with mental health disabilities out of segregation, the province's human rightscommission alleges.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission filed a motion with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario seeking an order to hold the province accountable for violating a two-year-old agreement on the use of solitary confinement in the province's jails for the mentally disabled.

The commission alleges the provincial government has breached its legal obligations to inmates in the process.

"TheOHRCis taking this legal step to make sure that no prisoner is subjected to the unconstitutional harms caused by solitary confinement, that prisoners with mental health disabilities receive the care they require," the commission said in a statement.

Kristy Denette, a spokeswoman with the Ministry of the Solicitor General, said the government "is working with our front-line correctional staff and justice partners to make correctional services in Ontario safer for staff and those in our care and custody."

In its filings, the commission said 46 per cent of the 12,000 people placed in segregation between July 2018 and June 2019 had mental health alerts on their files.

The commission is seeking an order for a prohibition onsegregation for anyone with a mental health disability.

It is also seeking a limit on any segregation beyond 15continuous days and 60 days total in a year. The commission also wants an independent monitor to provide oversight of the provincial correctional system.

Motion alleges litany of problems in Ontario jails

In its motion, the commission alleges a litany of problems injails.

It says the province has failed to conduct adequate mental health screenings to properly identify mental health disabilitiesand failed to develop individualized mental health care plans.

The province has also not implemented a system to accurately track segregation placements and has not complied with requirements to conduct internal segregation reviews, the commission alleges.

They are the same problems highlighted in an April report by Justice David Cole who performed an independent review of the province's compliance with segregation.

Denette said it met deadlines for enhanced mental health screening for inmates and formalizing timelines for screening and assessments, revising operational policies on segregation andestablishing methods to track conditions of confinement for inmates.

Denettealso said the government will be hiring 500 more correctional officers and will modernize some of its infrastructure.