OMBUDSMAN'S REPORT ON SEGREGATION/ISOLATION USE

Amazingly there is almost no mention of the reasons why to put inmates into segregation. The usual excuses of for the inmate's own safety or the inmate is violent towards others aren't even mentioned. The only comment is that "...isolation is supposed to be a rare measure of last resort that needs to be justified in each and every case.". Unfortunately that apparently does not occur.

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carries the following article titled "Ombudsman slams jail segregation use". One of the main concerns in the report is the total lack of proper tracking as to who is and is not in isolation and furthermore how long they've been in isolation. It makes studying the practice and its' abuses nearly impossible when managers and supervisors either don't keep written records or aren't required to send them up the chain of command on a timely basis.

The most recent blatant and egregious case is in regards to an inmate named Adam Capay. Written records indicated he'd been in isolation for 50 days when in fact he'd been in isolation for 1,591 days. I hope that he and or his lawyer sue the province for millions of dollars which among other things will go towards whatever mental health expenditures are required. Isolation can have "...grave and lasting effects on a person's mental state.". This is not the way to "rehabillatate" offenders.