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Judge rules constant lockdowns of inmate at N.S. facility unlawful

The interior of a cell is seen reflected in a steel mirror during a media tour of renovations at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Halifax on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Source: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan) The interior of a cell is seen reflected in a steel mirror during a media tour of renovations at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Halifax on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Source: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)
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A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled constant lockdowns at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility more than a month ago were unlawful and deprived an inmate of their liberty.

According to a written decision dated May 1, Justice Peter P. Rosinski ruled inmate Ryan Wilband “experienced a material deprivation of his residual liberty” due to regular lockdowns between March 17 and April 8.

Rosinski specifically ruled Wilband was deprived of liberty on March 17, March 18, March 19, March 25, April 2, and April 3, stating the inmate was allowed out of his cell for a maximum of five-and-a-half hours at the most on one day and less than two-and-a-half hours at the least on another day.

“Senior Correctional Services staff made the decisions to reduce the unlock times for inmate in issue here lawfully – i.e., there was a legal basis to do so and the process by which they came to those decisions was sufficiently procedurally fair, however I find the identified specific daily outcomes were not reasonable,” Rosinski wrote in the decision. “Let me add here that, to the extent that staff shortages are foreseeable, which in my opinion they were in the case of Mr. Wilband, there is a correspondingly proportionate obligation on Correctional Services staff to take all reasonable measures to ensure that these shortages do not occur, so as to avoid an outcome such as a material reduction in inmates’ normal daily time out of cell.”

Earlier this year, Rosinski ruled Wilband and fellow inmate Durrell Diggs experienced “ongoing material deprivation” of their liberty during incarceration last fall. The judge ruled Wilband was confined to his cell for “extraordinarily long periods of time each day” between Oct. 31 and Nov. 28 due to staffing shortages.

In the written decision, Rosinski noted testimony by Chief Superintendent Jeffrey Awalt, which outlined a plan to lessen the stress of staff shortages. The decision noted the facility could have a “full staffing complement estimated by July 2024.”

“Chief Superintendent Awalt provided what I found to be encouraging particulars that the plan would, in the near to middle term, have a noticeable impact on improving the staffing shortage problem at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility,” Rosinkski wrote.

-With files from The Canadian Press

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.

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