Two rights groups are taking the Canadian government to court over the use of solitary confinement in Canadian prisons, calling it unconstitutional.
Photo Credit: Chuck Mitchell/CP

Rights groups suing Canadian government over solitary confinement in prisons

“It’s not just drastic, it’s inhumane,” says lawyer Joseph Arvay about solitary confinement in Canadian prisons. Arvay is representing the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada in a lawsuit against the Attorney General of Canada challenging the use of solitary confinement in Canadian prisons as unconstitutional.

The lawsuit alleges that the use of solitary confinement, or segregation, in which prisoners are isolated for up to 23 hours a day in a cell the size of a bathroom, sometimes for months and years at a time, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda spoke to Joseph Arvay about the lawsuit.

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More information:
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) – Justice, not torture: challenging solitary confinement in Canadian prisons – here

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