Canada's prison ombudsman calls COVID isolation 'extremely concerning'

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Measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country's prisons violate their human rights even if authorities are acting in the context of a public health emergency, Canada's prison ombudsman said on Friday.

In a lengthy assessment, Ivan Zinger said strict isolation of inmates has put them in difficult circumstances, although he did not address specific incidents of unrest said to be related to the pandemic.

The ombudsman noted prisons had locked down inmates, shut gyms, libraries and other communal spaces, and suspended programs and communal meals. Even more restrictive measures were in place in those facilities with outbreaks, he said. On Thursday, an inmate at Donnacona Institution in Quebec told The Canadian Press that guards this week had quelled a peaceful protest over the lockdown with tear gas and rubber bullets. He said one inmate needed hospital care. Prison rights group the John Howard society similarly reported hearing of guards resorting to percussion grenades to quell unrest at Collins Bay penitentiary in Ontario.

 

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My question to Zinger is did these criminals care about anyone else's well being or rights while they commited their crimes? Unless the answer is yes STFU!

So are long term care patients.... who aren’t criminals.

It’s isolation or no isolation, those are the two choices. There is no early release option. They made decisions that landed themselves in jail. Time to live with it.

Seriously? Why are prisoners entitled to anything

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