Solitary confinement in youth jails is torture By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 29, 2021

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2021 (1312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To say young people are currently being tortured in Manitoba is to use a strong word, an appalling word. Distressingly, however, the word is accurate, and no good will come from pretending it’s not.

Solitary confinement, such as that employed in Manitoba’s youth jails, is classified as torture by several international human rights treaties, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture. A report released last Friday shows an alarming rise in instances of jailed youth confined to solitary in 2020.

The report’s author, acting youth advocate Ainsley Krone, said the past year’s increase in the use of solitary confinement at Manitoba’s two youth jails, Agassiz Youth Centre and Manitoba Youth Centre, was partly the result of pandemic protocols, which required 14 days of isolation upon entry. The second most common reason was “behavioural management,” and Ms. Krone outlined the urgent need for more humane methods to manage the behaviour of young inmates.

The statistics are alarming: about three in every five Manitoba youth in custody experienced at least one incident of segregation in 2020, and the average period youth spent in segregation rose from 25 hours in 2019 to 132 hours in 2020. The number of youth held in segregation for more than 15 straight days increased tenfold in the last year.

Ms. Krone noted the practice can cause “irreversible psychological trauma,” a possibility echoed by many academic studies that show the devastating results of long-term sensory deprivation and lack of human contact when individuals are locked in concrete-and-steel stalls.

The effects of such extreme isolation commonly include high psychological distress, which can be exhibited as anxiety, panic, rage, paranoia and suicidal impulses.

Ms. Krone found 63 per cent of the youth in solitary in Manitoba had previous mental-health concerns, which is dismaying because physicians have repeatedly concluded solitary confinement worsens existing mental illnesses, sometimes to the point of preventing the prisoner/patients from ever recovering.

Almost all of them — 94 per cent — were Indigenous, which is perhaps evidence of the grim reality that some of today’s Indigenous youth are victims of the intergenerational trauma inflicted on their ancestors by colonial atrocities such as residential schools.

The report is a disappointing update on recommendations by the Manitoba youth advocate in 2019, which included ending or restricting the use of solitary confinement in youth facilities.

Justice Minister Cameron Friesen should dig deep into the causes of the inhumane conditions exposed by Krone’s report. He will likely find institutional staff don’t use solitary as a preference, or because they don’t understand the detrimental effects on the youthful victims. Often, solitary is a last resort because when inmates are acting up or are in danger of hurting themselves or others, penal officials are not provided with better options.

Ms. Krone recommends youth solitary confinement for longer than 24 hours be outlawed in Manitoba, which is a sensible way forward as long as the new law is accompanied by alternate tools for jail staff. More humane alternatives to solitary confinement include increased mental-health supports, culturally appropriate help for Indigenous youth, and the return of various group programs that were previously eliminated in Manitoba facilities.

The incentive for Manitoba to do better includes the age of inmates in youth facilities. They are often new to the penal system, and are usually serving relatively short terms. Their youth brings hope of possible rehabilitation. To damage them through solitary confinement is cruel to them and dangerous to the community into which they will eventually be released.