Segregation, solitary confinement in Manitoba youth custody facilities continues: youth advocate

Manitoba Youth Centre (CTV News Photo Josh Crabb)

WINNIPEG -

The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth says cases of segregation and solitary confinement have continued in Manitoba youth custody facilities, and have increased due to the pandemic.

The special report from the advocate, released on Friday, follows up on a report on solitary confinement done two years ago. Advocate Ainsley Krone said in that time, the province has only completed one of six recommendations – increasing the oversight on the use of pepper spray.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the number and length of segregation and solitary confinement incidents since 2019," Krone said in her report.

The report shows since 2019, there have been 1,367 incidents of segregation – more than 500 of those incidents were for more than 24 hours.

The advocate said the average length of time a youth was in isolation in 2019 was 25 hours, but the length of time jumped in 2020 to an average of 132 hours.

Krone said Manitoba youth custody facilities have admission protocols that require the youth to be isolated for two weeks.

"Although it is meant to be a public health measure, youth in COVID-19 segregation reported having limited and inconsistent access to educational, mental health, and cultural supports," She said.

The report shows 94 per cent of the youth – some as young as 12 – placed in isolation were Indigenous and 63 per cent had a known mental health concern in 2019 and 2020.

The advocate said there were more cases of youth being put in solitary confinement for more than 15 days.

"This is problematic as prolonged solitary confinement can lead to irreversible psychological trauma, may constitute torture or cruel treatment, and is prohibited under minimum international standards for the care of incarcerated persons," the report reads.

The report said the primary reason for segregation was to manage behaviour.

The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth is calling on the province to amend the law to prohibit segregation of more than 24 consecutive hours, to make sure segregation less than 24 hours is restricted more, enhance therapeutic, cultural, and mental health supports for youth in custody, and build a stand-alone medical facility for youth in custody that is run by mental health professionals.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice said COVID-19 has presented a number of challenges for their facilities with regards to isolation and segregation.

“Isolation of youth coming into our facilities was an integral step in preventing the transmission of COVID-19,” the spokesperson said. “These isolation protocols were developed in collaboration with Public Health to ensure the protection of all youth in our care and evolved as our understanding of the pandemic evolved.

“As the advocate noted, we anticipate the removal of incidents of observation related to COVID-19 isolation would highlight that Manitoba Justice continues to show a significant decrease in use of observations, length of incidents, and number of incidents, potentially by as much as half.”