Québec City, September 19, 2024 - In his 2023-2024 Annual Report, Ombudsperson Marc-André Dowd reiterates that the shortage of labour in detention facilities is at the root of major breaches of prisoners' rights. He reports, for example, that periods of cell confinement are unduly prolonged, and that detainees do not have access to a change of clothes, mainly due to staff shortages.
"Human resource issues can’t justify a deterioration in prison conditions. As it now stands, approximately 20.5% of regular correctional officer positions are vacant, either because they’re not filled or because of extended leaves of absence.
Over the past year, the Ministère de la Sécurité publique has created a new officer training centre in order to increase the hiring pool. I welcome this initiative and intend to monitor its results closely," said Mr. Dowd.
Abuses and shortcomings
- The decision to use restraints, such as handcuffs, must be based on prior assessment of the danger that detainees pose to themselves or to others. The Protecteur du citoyen has intervened to put an end to the systematic use of restraints without regard to the level of risk, particularly when people make a virtual court appearance within the detention facility itself.
- In one detention facility, handcuffs were systematically used for some yard time. The authorities argued that work needed to be done to make these yards safer. As the Protecteur du citoyen saw it, imposing restraints for infrastructure reasons was unacceptable as a long-term solution. Because it intervened, the facility took the necessary steps to put an end to this practice.
- Detainees had not had access to a change of clothes and underwear for periods ranging from several days to several weeks from the time of their incarceration. In one case, the person waited two months.
- When a detainee is called before the disciplinary committee, the procedure must be rigorously followed, to, among other things, ensure that the person is treated fairly and equitably. Complaints to the Protecteur du citoyen have exposed flaws, such as denying detainees access to evidence about their alleged transgressions.
- The transfer of health care management in detention facilities from the Ministère de la Sécurité publique to the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux has still not been completed in the real world, even though, on paper, it has been a done deal since 2022. As the division of responsibilities has not necessarily been implemented yet, there have been problems, particularly when it comes to distributing medication in detention facilities. Because there are no formal, uniform guidelines on good practice, some medicines are distributed by correctional officers, others by medical staff. Each facility manages this responsibility as it sees fit.
A few numbers
In 2023-2024, the Protecteur du citoyen visited six detention facilities: Montréal, Rivière-des-Prairies, Amos, Hull, Saint-Jérôme and Trois-Rivières. It handled 4,813 grounds for complaints about correctional services. The substantiated grounds for complaints concerned missed deadlines or unreasonable wait times (38.1%) and shortcomings in the environment or living conditions (22.0%).
The Protecteur du citoyen acts impartially and independently to ensure that people's rights are respected in their dealings with public services. Its services are free and user-friendly.
For everything you need to know about the Protecteur du citoyen's 2023-2024 Annual Report, see the Annual Reports section of our website.
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Information:
Carole-Anne Huot, person in charge of media relations
Phone: (418) 646-7143/Cell: (418) 925-7994
Email: medias@protecteurducitoyen.qc.ca
