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375COVID-19
in Canadian Prisons: Policies, Practices and Concerns
there is still such a shortage that, for example, one institution dealing
with an outbreak has only two nurses available (one more than pre-
pandemic), and one part-time physician, for nearly 200 people.39 The
Public Health Agency of Canada has not performed any external audits
of the implementation of the protocols and measures adopted by CSC.40
Extensive segregation with little to no stimuli or family contact has
been the most common response to the pandemic in federal penitentia-
ries. Infected or presumptively infected people are locked up in medi-
cal isolation, or on âinfected ranges.â41 In the institutions where there
are active outbreaks, even individuals who are not presumed infected
are held for up to 24 hours in their cells. When permitted to go outside
their cell for 20 minutes each day, they have to choose whether they
will call their family, or their lawyer, or take a shower.42 In some institu-
tions without outbreaks, individuals who are not presumptive COVID-
19 cases are allowed outside between two and four hours daily. This
regime is, at least at times, in breach of international norms and human
rights,43 according to which, in all circumstances, prolonged isolation
(more than 14 days of being locked up for 22 hours or longer in a cell)
and indefinite isolation (without a clear end) constitute torture.44
Decarceration efforts in provincial prisons have had some
success in most provinces. As of May 15, 2020, there have been 168
confirmed cases of infection45 in provincial custody, and one death
in Quebec.46 Nearly all of these cases came from the same two jails
in Ontario47 and Quebec.48 This is likely correlated with the reported
39. Canada, Office of the Correctional Investigator, supra note 36 at 7.
40. Ibid at 8.
41. Ibid. See also Justin Ling, âInmates With Coronavirus Are Being Thrown Into
âExtremely Difficultâ Confinement: Prison Watchdogâ, Vice News (27 April 2020),
online: <perma.cc/DZ2K-6PQE>. .
42. Ibid at 4â6.
43. Canada, Office of the Correctional Investigator, supra note 36 at 5.
44. United Nations, supra note 2 at Rule 44 and 43(a).
45. Tracking the Politics of Criminalization and Punishment in Canada, âConfirmed
COVID-19 Cases Linked to Canadian Carceral Institutionsâ (April 26, 2020),
online (blog): TPCP-Canada <perma.cc/R2L8-ZLAB>.
46. Paul Cherry, âInmate at Bordeaux Jail Dies of COVID-19â, MontrealÂ
Gazette (21 May
2020), online: <perma.cc/T8U9-2WTA>; Daniel Renaud, âLe dĂ©tenu de Bordeaux
hospitalisĂ© est dĂ©cĂ©dĂ©â, La Presse (20 May 2020), online: <www.lapresse.ca/covid-
19/202005/20/01-5274256-le-detenu-de-bordeaux-hospitalise-est-decede.php>.
47. Alyshah Hasham & Jim Rankin, supra note 29.
48. CBC News, âCivil Rights Groups Call for Action After Bordeaux Jail Inmate
Dies from COVID-19â, CBC News Montreal (20 May 2020), online: <perma.cc/
CP88-4MAV>.
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