Yellowknife jail practices under review
Treatment of 'high risk' inmates in segregation questioned after judge rules offender's charter rights breached
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 19, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The treatment of segregated inmates at Yellowknife's jail is under review after a judge ruled an offender's charter rights were breached earlier this month.
Brooklyn Palmantier, 20, was set to receive anywhere from six to 11 months in jail for threatening and fighting corrections officers and hiding a makeshift razor blade weapon in his cell at North Slave Correctional Centre between August and October 2013.
Instead, Judge Bernadette Schmaltz gave the man enhanced credit for the time he already served and set him free March 7, citing his
treatment at the facility as weighing heavily on her decision.
Palmantier spent a total of 132 days in solitary confinement in the Yellowknife jail between his arrest June 6 and Feb. 26, 2014, with his longest stint lasting 33 days.
For seven days in October, before being transferred to a maximum security facility in Edmonton, Palmantier was held in solitary confinement without clothes, running water, toilet paper, a shower or a mattress.
"I find the conditions that Mr. Palmantier was held in to be unacceptable, and amount to cruel and unusual treatment and, consequently, a breach of his right under section 12 of the charter," Schmaltz said in her decision.
In response, the Justice Department is conducting an internal review of how high-risk inmates are managed at the Yellowknife jail.
Monty Bourke, director of corrections, said the department isn't considering disciplinary action against the officers but is, instead, reviewing policies and procedures surrounding how they treat segregated inmates.
"We need to make sure we document everything we do in segregation, so we have all the answers," Bourke said.
He added any time there are interactions with inmates in segregation - including offering of mattresses, clothing, food and showers - should be recorded.
Three corrections officers testified at Palmantier's sentencing hearing, but Schmaltz wasn't convinced they followed routines properly after they were unable to provide written documentation they did so.
Though Schmaltz called Palmantier's conditions "inhumane and uncivilized," Bourke said corrections officers sometimes need to respond that way.
"I can understand why members of the public might be shocked by what they heard," Bourke said.
"However, there are very few offenders that challenge the staff in this way. It's important that staff have the means available to address offenders that act out in this way."
Bourke said offenders can be "pretty innovative and creative" and can make weapons out of just about anything - even mattress covers and clothing.
"We want to provide everything they're entitled to but not those items that are fashioned into a weapon or might (allow for) self-injury."
Bourke said taking away particular items is about controlling the safety of the facility.
"We're not talking about punishment here, we're talking about offender management. The courts administer a punishment."
Though high-risk offenders may be placed in segregation at Yellowknife's jail, some inmates pose too much of a problem for the facility and need to be sent to maximum security penitentiaries in the south.
Dozens of inmates are sent south each year, the department confirmed, although only a handful of those sent are deemed unmanageable, Bourke said. Most are transferred because they are serving sentences longer than two years, because Yellowknife's jail is designed for offenders serving jail terms of less than two years.
Other times, case managers, psychologists and corrections officers may deem an offender too much to handle at the Yellowknife jail. Bourke said after assessing the inmate, the director will determine if they need to be transferred.
Questions were raised during Palmantier's sentencing hearing on why it took more than four months to transfer him out of the Yellowknife jail.
Greg Spronken, deputy warden of security at the jail, testified inmate transfers are "not something we take lightly," adding they'll always try to rehabilitate inmates at the facility first.
Bourke said, in addition to its internal review, the department is organizing an external review by former executives in Corrections Canada, the RCMP and the GNWT.
"We want to make sure we are in compliance," he said.
Bourke added since taking the job of director two months ago, he's visited all corrections facilities in the NWT and is impressed with the staff there.
"There's a real sense of commitment and professionalism. The staff take a lot of pride in their work."
Bourke said the department realizes there's always room for improvement, adding they'll take any recommendations from both the external and internal reviews seriously.
