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CHAPTER D-5
COVID-19 in Canadian Prisons:
Policies, Practices and Concerns*
Adelina Iftene**
Abstract
Correctional Service of Canada and the provincial prison systems have
a duty to provide incarcerated individuals with health services that
are comparable to those in the community, but they have failed to do
so during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are inherent practical dif-
ficulties to implementing health care in prisons. In addition, prison
demographics include a higher proportion of populations that are vul-
nerable to disease. These factors together mean that the prison response
to COVID-19 must involve depopulation and the implementation of
guidelines provided by public health agencies in all institutions. So far,
the measures taken have been insufficient, as is evidenced by the rapid
rates of spread of COVID-19 within prisons compared to the commu-
nity. An overreliance on segregation of incarcerated individuals as a
preventive measure raises concerns under s. 7 of the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms (the Charter) and international human rights. There are
also equality concerns under s. 15 of the Charter, given the high propor-
tion of Indigenous people in prison. Ultimately, some prison systems’
* I am very grateful to Anthony Doob, Constance MacIntosh, Andrew Martin,
Martha Paynter, Sophie Theriault, and the anonymous peer reviewer for their
thoughtful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts. I am also thankful to
Maggie McCann (JD’21) for her outstanding research assistance.
** Assistant Professor at Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University and incom-
ing Associate Director of the Health Law Institute at Dalhousie.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International