Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

FELDSTED: The idea that solitary confinement is always a form of punishment is simply not true


Liberals set to amend solitary confinement rules in wake of dual court calls for action
Amanda Connolly ~~ National Online Journalist / Global News ~~ October 15, 2018

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and
Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale,
is the MP for the Regina- Wascana riding
The federal Liberals are set to introduce a new bill tackling the issue of administrative segregation, more commonly known as solitary confinement.  A bill was put on the notice paper on Oct. 11, which is how the government gives notice that it intends to table legislation in the House of Commons…

… it is not clear at this time what new limits or bans the new bill could put in place on the use of solitary confinement.

The federal government introduced a bill in June 2017 … however, that bill never made it past first reading and has wallowed in legislative purgatory ever since… a series of legal challenges that came after it have resulted in court rulings that strict limits are needed and that using solitary confinement long-term is unconstitutional.

A government official …  acknowledged there have been concerns raised repeatedly by justice advocates over the last year and a half that the language in the existing bill does not fully address the concerns raised in two significant court rulings that have come since.

… an Ontario Superior Court judge also deemed the long-term use of solitary confinement in federal prisons unconstitutional.

He called for much stricter limits of no more than five days in order to prevent psychological harm to the offender.

To read full story CLICK HERE:

I don’t suppose the jurors have ever considered that they are not legislators, or that prisoners are not the most reliable judges of what constitutes psychological abuse.

Some prisoners are isolated due to their crimes; for example, child molesters are unlikely to survive in general population and will be most likely be killed. Others are in debt from gambling, or from illicit drug use, and will meet an untimely death if not protected.


Then there are the psychopaths who gain separation by attacking and harming other inmates. We also have dangerous criminals who will not hesitate to murder again. Once they are sentences to life without parole for 25 years, they have little to lose, and are thus more dangerous than most.

There is considerable difference between provincial jails, where convicted persons serve sentences less than two years, and federal prisons where convicted persons serve sentences of two years or more. That is where the sentencing term “two years less a day” comes from – the judge is deciding to send a convicted person to a provincial jail rather than a federal prison.

The proposed legislation has numerous unintended consequences, and if passed will see some lives lost when prison officials are required to release an inmate from solitary confinement. The idea that solitary confinement is always a form of punishment is simply not true.

There are instances where tempers flare, a fight breaks out and combatants are temporarily confined to allow tempers to cool, and second thoughts to rule. Those confined are likely to consider the confinement to be punishment, but without intervention and serious harm taking place, one of the combatants would face assault charges and most likely an extension of his sentence.

Others, as cited above, will kill or be killed with whatever devices are available. It will not be humane or pretty. Of course, judges never have to deal with a prisoner stabbed multiple times with home-made knives, or strangled with an appliance cord, or gang raped, or simply beaten to death.

This is a case where ideology and reality clash and pushing ideology will have dire consequences.


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH: As a BC Conservative member, and campaign worker, I will again state that the fact these errors were found -- AND brought to light BY Elections BC -- shows the system IS working

Sadly, two and a half weeks after the BC provincial election campaign, those who want to undermine our political process are still at.  PLUS, we also have one who doesn’t even live in our country, never mind our province. I speak of the buffoon running for President of the United States, who has poisoned the well when it comes to faith in the electoral process. Just today alone, comments such as the following, were being made of posts that I shared online: ... all the votes they keep finding has just favoured NDP on in all critical ridings and soon they will flip another riding in favour of NDP, Come on. ... Elections BC has ridiculed British Columbians, and I no longer have confidence or trust in their process and competence regarding the results Then there are others online, with comments like these – who are claiming fraud in the October 19th election: ... Who is the oversight for Elections BC? They should be investigated for election fraud! ... Fraudulent election ... should be red
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more