B.C. ombudsperson labels youth confinement in jail 'unsafe,' calls for changes
A three-year investigation by British Columbia's ombudsperson concludes the provincial government's practice of placing jailed youth in solitary confinement is “unjust and unsafe.”
Jay Chalke, whose office investigates complaints against provincial and local authorities, says in a release that the confinement also disproportionately impacts Indigenous youth.
Chalke says B.C.'s laws should be changed to boost oversight abilities and to set a maximum of 22 hours that the youth, aged 12 from to 17, can be placed in solitary.
B.C. has two youth custody centres in Prince George and Burnaby, and the study found the average duration of confinement increased over a three-year period, including in one case when a youth spent 78 out of 81 days in solitary.
The report makes 26 recommendations, ranging from amending B.C.'s Youth Justice Act to providing better care for prisoners with mental health issues.
In response to the report, Children and Family Development Minister Mitzi Dean says B.C. is developing a framework to improve and modernize its youth justice system.
Dean says the ministry accepts the “spirit and intent of the recommendations” and will incorporate them into its youth justice framework.
“Both the child welfare system and the justice system are overly involved in the lives of Indigenous people, children and families. It is part of the damaging colonial legacy that continues to this day - and as part of our commitment to reconciliation, we need to address it head on,” she says in a statement.
Chalke says he's encouraged that the ministry has accepted the recommendations but the lack of urgency by government is concerning.
“It is time to give these issues - and these young people - the priority they need,” Chalke said in a statement.
Despite a drop in the number of youths being placed into the province's two detention centres from 2017 to 2019, the report notes the duration of isolation rose and Indigenous youth accounted for more than half of the solitary confinement incidents.
“These practices of isolation can create a self-reinforcing cycle in which the harmful effects of isolation make it harder for a person to be in a non-isolated environment, and so isolation is more likely to continue,” the report says.
The report also calls for an end to isolating youth under the age of 16.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Nine suspects arrested in $24M gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise and it turned into a rocking kitchen party
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Liberals must now sell a budget they say will help younger Canadians catch up
It's now up to the federal Liberal government to sell a spending plan it says will help younger Canadians catch up to their elders.
Ontario woman out $30K after investing in mortgage company accused of being unlicensed
An Ontario nurse is fighting to recover tens of thousands of dollars in savings she invested in a mortgage company that has since been accused of operating without a licence.
Canada is expected to win 22 medals at the Paris Olympics
Canada is expected to win a total of 22 medals, including six gold, at the Paris Summer Olympics, which open on July 26.