Ontario’s highest court sets 15-day cap on solitary confinement
TORONTO — Ontario’s top court has placed a hard cap on solitary confinement in prisons, saying inmates can no longer be isolated for more than 15 days because that amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
In a ruling released Thursday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario said prolonged administrative segregation does not hold up to constitutional scrutiny.
“I reach this conclusion because prolonged administrative segregation causes foreseeable and expected harm which may be permanent and which cannot be detected through monitoring until it has already occurred,” Justice Mary Lou Benotto wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel.