New numbers reveal how often solitary confinement is used against young offenders in Canada

Incarcerated teens are routinely placed in solitary confinement in Canada, and there is little consistency as to how the practice is used or even defined in each province.

VICE News asked every province and territory for data on how many youth have been held in solitary confinement, and for how long, since 2012. While many couldn’t fulfill that request in whole, what is clear is that a patchwork of policies across the country is placing some young people in solitary for longer than two weeks.

The data is all over the map: British Columbia reported more than 300 “instances” of youth being held in “separate confinement” last year, while Ontario place 179 individual youths in “secure isolation” in 2015 and 134 last year. New Brunswick said it only started tracking youth in solitary in 2016. And only Yukon said it didn’t use isolation at all.

The information comes at a key moment of prison reform in Canada, as Parliament pursues new legislation that would drastically limit the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons, which only house adults.

But advocates say provinces and territories need to look specifically at what is happening with youth, and halt the use of the controversial tactic of solitary in provincial jails for juveniles, which includes youth ages 12 to 17 who have been convicted of crimes, or are awaiting trial.

Last August, the College of Family Physicians of Canada urged governments to abolish solitary confinement for youth for any reason, in part because it has an even greater impact on developing brains, and there’s little to show that it works as a disciplinary measure.

British Columbia, which has seen recent riots among young offenders held in its youth “super-jail,” reported 317 instances of youth held in “separate confinement” last year, and 387 from 2015 to 2016. These could include instances involving the same youth more than once.

Youth in separate confinement can still access the gym and schooling, as well as watch TV and listen to music, according to a government spokesperson, they just can’t have contact with other youth in custody.

Ontario provided numbers for 2015 and 2016, during which time there were around 300 inmates in youth jails. In 2015, 85 percent of youth who were held in solitary confinement — or what the province refers to as “secure isolation” in youth jails — were held for less than 24 hours, while 13 percent of secure isolation placements were held for up to 72 hours. In 2016, four percent of inmates held in secure isolation were held there for up to 72 hours, and two percent were held for longer periods of time.

The province is currently facing a $125 million class-action lawsuit by claimants alleging that workers at youth jails routinely violate the policies meant to curb the use of it, and states that children as young as 12 are held in solitary. The suit followed a scathing 2015 report from the province’s children’s advocate that found 164 young people in jail were held in solitary for more than 24 hours, 13 of whom were held for more than five days. The report also heard from youth who described “dehumanizing conditions” in solitary including drastic changes in temperature and waiting for hours for jail staff to clean their bodily waste.

A spokesperson for the Ontario ministry of children and youth said youth in solitary are put in a special room that contains a window “or some other means of observing the youth” and teens between the ages of 12 and 15 are never left alone.

Yukon reported using a “safety room” in which young offenders can be placed for a maximum of 15-minute increments and it’s been used one time a year since 2012. Manitoba has a similar setup, although it didn’t cite a time cap. Saskatchewan and Alberta wouldn’t pull numbers saying they aren’t kept in a centralized database, but Alberta said it currently has no young offenders in solitary.

Quebec is the only province that does not have jails specifically designated for young offenders. Instead, it houses young offenders in “rehabilitation centres” that also house children as young as six who are experiencing difficulties living with their parents and other caregivers. A spokesperson for the ministry of health and social services said the province maintains a database on youth held in confinement in these facilities, but that it counts residents as well as those facing criminal charges.

According to Quebec ministry data, which spans from 2012 to present, there was an average of more than 2,500 youth living in rehabilitation centres per year. Between seven and 10 percent of those youth experienced some form of solitary confinement or “isolation” as it’s referred to by the department. While the data doesn’t say how long they were held, the province legislates that it must be an “exceptional measure of control” used only to prevent the person from harming themselves or others, although it doesn’t state a time limit.

According to the spokesperson, there must also be “alternative measures” available for youth as a substitute for isolation, including “recovery rooms” equipped with punching bags, and what is described as “Snoozeland” rooms, “the aim of which is to provide a state of well-being to the user,” and a committee of people who help find solutions for youth who are isolated on a recurring basis.

While Atlantic Canada has been found to have the highest rates of solitary confinement among adults in federal prisons, the rates for youth are low in the region, except in New Brunswick, which reported the longest length of time across the country for a young offender in solitary, with two youths held in administrative segregation for 16 days or more as of May 31. There were also two youths held for 16 days or more in 2016. So far this year, 15 youths have been held in disciplinary segregation, five of whom were held for between four and seven days.

New Brunswick said it only began tracking the issue in 2016, and young offenders there can be held in either disciplinary segregation as a result of an “institutional misconduct charge” or in administrative segregation, which is when an inmate is segregated due to security or safety concerns.

Newfoundland appears to have the strictest solitary confinement or “secure isolation” policy for youth, as it implemented a policy in 2014 that forbids youth from being held for more than eight hours in a 24-hour time frame, or an aggregate of 24-hours in a week, regardless of age. Prince Edward Island would only pull numbers from 2016 to present that showed seven young people were placed in “the safety room” for less than 24 hours.

Nova Scotia says it does not collect data on “close confinement” among young offenders prior to February 2017. Data provided shows that this April saw the highest number of youth in close confinement with five, with the most time someone held was for one day. In March, one youth was held in close confinement for four days.

Nunavut held 19 young offenders in isolation cells in 2016, ranging from one day to 11 days for reasons including damaged property and incidents of aggression. And Northwest Territories has used close confinement against youth a total of 30 times for less than a day since 2012.

The proposed federal law, tabled on Tuesday, will eventually impose a 15-day cap on holding an inmate in administrative segregation, putting Canada in line with UN guidelines. The law will not impact inmates held in provincial or territorial custody, but comes as Ontario and other provinces overhaul the way they carries out solitary confinement, or segregation, of inmates in provincial facilities, which house those serving sentences of less than two years or are awaiting trial

Last year, President Barack Obama enforced a ban on solitary in juvenile prisons in the U.S., citing its lasting psychological consequences.