Senator Kim Pate

In 2018, the government of Canada introduced Bill C-83, which had the stated goal of ending the use of segregation and solitary confinement in federal penitentiaries.

The Senate of Canada proposed amendments to the legislation to uphold human and constitutional rights and ensure that the new structured intervention units (SIUs) Bill C-83 proposed did not simply amount to isolation by another name.

Following the government’s rejection of the Senate amendments to Bill C-83, Senators undertook to monitor the implementation of Bill C-83 and conditions of confinement in federal penitentiaries. More than 36 senators have visited federal penitentiaries over the past few years.

This report is the culmination of those visits. It documents the failure of the government and the Correctional Services Canada to comply with the Charter,  the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and its regulations, and the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules for the treatment of prisoners.

As a result, Bill S-230, introduced by Senator Pate in 2021, proposes to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act in order to address the failure of the government to meaningfully end isolation and to ensure adequate correctional oversight and remedial options.

Read the Full Report.

Learn more about Bill S-230.