On 27 January 2025, Public Safety Canada released the final report of the Structured Intervention Units Implementation Advisory Panel which had been examining Correctional Service Canada’s implementation of its alternative to solitary confinement or administrative segregation.
Two of the members of that panel have affiliations with the Centre: Jane Sprott, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, received her PhD from the centre and is currently a member of the group that creates Criminological Highlights. Tony Doob is a professor emeritus at the centre.
This is the eighth report on federal Corrections’ “new solitary confinement" system (creatively renamed “structured intervention units”) by this panel since 2021. Visit Public Safety Canada's website to access all reports. Four other reports (released in 2020 and 2021) were produced by Jane and Tony. All reports are based on data received from Correctional Service Canada.
The findings are consistent over time. As the most recent report states, “SIUs have never operated in an acceptable fashion and there is no evidence that that they are improving in any sustained fashion. The law and the administration of the law outlawing solitary confinement-like conditions in Canadian penitentiaries are each, independently, in need of change. The review of the legislation must start from the beginning and be informed by the now well-documented failures in the implementation of the SIUs.”
The report reveals other disturbing findings including the following:
- On any given day, Black and Indigenous prisoners (each of whom are over-represented in the overall population of penitentiaries) are especially over-represented in the new solitary confinement cells.
- Although the legislation requires that an “independent external” person must review very long stays in the new solitary confinement cells and that this independent person can “order” that the prisoner be released from solitary confinement, many prisoners are held a month or more after they are ordered to be released.
- Solitary confinement is known to interfere with prisoners’ mental health. Yet those with deteriorating mental health (as assessed by Correctional Service Canada) are especially likely to experience long stays in solitary confinement. Those with deteriorating mental health are also especially likely to fail to receive the legislatively promised time out of cell and meaningful interaction with other people.
- After five years of operation, there is no evidence of any consistent improvements in providing prisoners with the legislatively promised limitations on the experience of solitary confinement.
The vast majority of prisoners who experience solitary confinement in Canada’s “Structured Intervention Units” will eventually be released and will live amongst other Canadians. The report notes the law requires that Correctional Service Canada give priority to treatment of prisoners in a manner that contributes to the protection of society. The operation of Canada’s solitary confinement system – a responsibility of the Minister of Public Safety – appears to violate this principle.