Seite - 369 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

369COVID-19 in Canadian Prisons: Policies, Practices and Concerns people who await trial or serve short sentences are placed) or a federal penitentiary (where people serve sentences of two years or more). Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the governmental agency responsible for the management of the federal prisons, and the pro- vincial prison systems have a duty under international standards and national laws to provide incarcerated individuals with health services comparable to those in the community.2 The Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), which governs the federal correctional system, states that an individual must have access to essential health care and reasonable access to non-essential health care, both of which are to be provided at “professionally accepted standards.”3 The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI), the federal prison ombudsperson, has interpreted the CCRA4 to implicitly impose an obligation on CSC to seek alternatives to incarceration for those whose health becomes incompatible with imprisonment.5 Similarly, most provincial correc- tional systems contain statutory duties owed to incarcerated people, particularly as they relate to health care.6 The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations to the govern- ments’ ability or willingness to discharge these duties and to ensure the safety of those in custody. Given the background of the enhanced vulnerabilities of prisoners and of the risks posed by congregated liv- ing spaces generally, and prisons in particular, the response needed to protect those in custody in times of crisis must be principled, immedi- ate, and multifaceted. First, as also discussed by Jennifer A Chandler et al, in Chapter D-10 of this volume, it is difficult, if not impossible, to implement necessary preventive measures (particularly physical distancing and cleanliness)7 in congregate living spaces, including 2. The United Nations Standard for Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), GA Res 70/175, UNGAOR, 70th Sess, UN Doc A/ RES/70/175 (2015) at Rules 24–35. 3. Corrections and Conditional Release Act, SC 1992, c 20, s 86 [CCRA]. 4. Ibid, s 121. 5. Canada, Office of the Correctional Investigator, An  Investigation  of  the  Correctional  Service’s  Mortality  Review  Process, (Ottawa: Office of the Correctional Investigator, December 2018) at 7. 6. See e.g. Correctional Services Act, SNS 2005, c 37, s 25; Correctional Services Regulations, NS Reg 99/2006, s 45(2)(b); Ministry  of  Correctional  Services  Act, RSO 1990, c M 22, s 24(1); The Correctional Services Act, 1998 CCSM c C 230, s 37. 7. On public health measures see “Infection Prevention and Control During Health Care When Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) Infection is Suspected” (19 March 2020), online (pdf): World  Health  Organization  Publications <perma.cc/5WNC-7URB>.