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THE LITMUS TEST OF LEGITIMACY : INDEPENDENT ADJUDICATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE SEGREGATION
Michael Jackson
Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia
In Canada over the past 30 years there has been a vigorous controversy as to the measures necessary to ensure that the use of administrative segregation – which, in light of its indefinite duration and the severity of the conditions, in the most restrictive form of imprisonment – is consistent with human rights standards and subject to the rule of law. One of these measures is independent adjudication. This article describes the history of independent adjudication in federal corrections, the underlying issues of legal principle and operational reality, and the competing arguments surrounding its implementation for administrative segregation.
OBSTACLES A LA SURVEILLANCE DU SYSTEME PENAL EN PAYS ANDIN : L’EXEMPLE BOLIVIEN
Denis Langlois
Politologue, spécialisé en droits de la personne
A brief tour of a few penitentiaries in the Andean region of South America brings out the stark contrast between the well-equipped prisons of Canada, the United States, and Europe and the generally run-down facilities to which prisoners in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are subjected. Despite constitutional and legislative provisions in line with international law, prisoners in these countries sometimes face inhuman conditions and multiple violations of their most basic human rights. In such a context, opportunities for any real monitoring of the correctional system come up against major structural shortcomings. That being said, the work of public institutions such as the Defensor del Pueblo (Ombudsman) helps to mitigate the ongoing arbitrariness in penitentiary administration. In addition, the fact that there are constitutional tribunals and that the agencies such as the Defensor del Pueblo and NGOs can seek help from international prisoners’ rights bodies strengthens actual recognition of those rights. The author hopes that the implementation of national action plans will prompt the governments concerned to meet their obligations regarding prisoners’ rights.
LE COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE PRÉVENTION DE LA TORTURE: MÉCANISME DE CONTRÔLE DES ÉTABLISSEMENTS DE DÉTENTION
Sandra Lehalle et Pierre Landreville
École de criminologie, Université de Montréal
Jean-Paul Céré
Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
Monitoring detention centres in Europe has become a crucial concern because of the overcrowding and poor physical living conditions in some of these institutions. Since 1987, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), a unique prevention mechanism, has visited detention centres in different countries and drawn up recommendations for the states concerned. Using some concrete examples, this article examines how the CPT fulfils its monitoring mission, creates penitentiary norms, and influences the practices of correctional systems across Europe. The analysis of this mechanism allows us to conclude that the CPT is a good example and a useful tool for improving living conditions in detention centres as well as for protecting prisoners’ rights.
TIME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY: EFFECTIVE OVERSIGHT OF WOMEN’S PRISONS
Debra Parkes
Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
Kim Pate
Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Numerous reports and commissions of inquiry have documented the need for oversight and accountability mechanisms to redress illegalities and rights violations in Canada’s women’s prisons. This article examines the recent troubled history of women’s imprisonment in which the calls for meaningful accountability and oversight have arisen, outlines the necessary criteria for any effective oversight body within this correctional context, and measures some of the key recommendations against those criteria. The authors conclude that the judicial oversight model and sanction proposed by Justice Louise Arbour in 1996 is the proposal that best meets the criteria and therefore ought to be implemented.
CREATING A FEDERAL INMATE GRIEVANCE TRIBUNAL
Jeremy Patrick
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Federal inmates in Canada currently have access to a wide variety of mechanisms that purport to ensure their rights are respected: internal grievance systems, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Correctional Investigator, the court system and more. However, for a variety of reasons, each of these mechanisms is inadequate to import accountability and the rule of law into the prison system. Instead, this article proposes the creation of a Federal Inmate Grievance Tribunal to rule on the merits of selected grievances. Key features of the proposed tribunal include fairness and independence; timely resolution of cases; and the ability to issue binding orders. In addition, the structure of the proposed tribunal is discussed.
COMMENTARY:
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: SHOULD JUDGES BE ALLOWED TO REMEDY BY RE-SENTENCING?
Mary E. Campbell
Member of the Ontario Bar
Justice Louise Arbour made 14 omnibus recommendations in her 1996 Report on Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston. While many of the recommendations have been accepted and implemented, one in particular has been neither conclusively rejected nor accepted. This commentary will review the reasons for Recommendation 8, explore possible reasons for the lack of uptake, and comment on what its future might now be.
