A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled it is illegal to lock down inmates in provincial jails because of staffing shortages.
Decisions by Justice Peter Rosinski in the cases of two inmates are being praised by the prisoner advocacy group PATH as a “groundbreaking victory” for prisoner rights.
Lawyer Hanna Garson says the decisions mean it’s now up to the province to decrease the jail population through bail, community sentences and temporary absence leaves.
Get the latest National news.
Sent to your email, every day.
In decisions dated Friday, Rosinski found that inmates Durrell Diggs and Ryan Wilband experienced “ongoing material deprivation” of their liberty while incarcerated at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility last fall.
The judge says Diggs was detained at the jail for 51 days — on 38 of those days he was confined to his cell for 22 hours per day, while on another eight days he was confined for 21 hours.
The court document says that under full staffing at the jail, inmates should be safely out of their cells for up to 12 hours a day.
Rosinski suggests better planning to ensure full staffing, distributing inmates throughout the provincial system and using bail and temporary absence leaves as ways of dealing with persistent staff shortages.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
