OTTAWA—A committee of senators has approved changes to a bill that aims to end solitary confinement in Canadian prisons — including one key change that would place a 48-hour maximum on the time an inmate can be kept in isolation. A number of human-rights organizations have raised concerns about the Liberals’ Bill C-83, saying it offers only a cosmetic rebranding of solitary confinement with no hard time limits on isolation or separation of inmates. Supreme Court and the Ontario Superior Court have delivered decisions saying administrative solitary confinement is inhumane and, in the Ontario decision, unconstitutional if it lasts longer than five days. “It’s clear from the Ontario Court of Appeal decision and the B.C. decision that there has got to be a hard time limit on placements in isolation,” Paterson said Wednesday.

Source: thestar May 30, 2019 08:15 UTC