N.L. inmates, official want oversight of 'kangaroo court' disciplinary hearings

Newfoundland and Labrador's justice ministersays the province will soon join the handful of Canadianjurisdictions that provide independent oversight of a disciplinaryprocess for provincial inmates that has been criticized as a"kangaroo court."

The provincial government has been sitting on legislation forover a decade that would rein in disciplinary hearings for inmates.

Without the legislation in force, senior prison staff aredetermining inmates' guilt and handing out sentences that can involve solitary confinement or time docked from early release.

But after recent questioning from The Canadian Press, LiberalJustice Minister John Hogan said his office will bring the new rulesinto force this year.

"The fact that this has been around for 11 years is somethingthat now has certainly been brought to my attention, and mydepartment's working on getting this done as soon as possible,"Hogan said.

Nova Scotia, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories require suchhearings to be judged by an independent or outside observer whodoesn't work alongside the officers who laid the charges, accordingto government spokespeople. Alberta and British Columbia introducedsimilar systems following court challenges.

Using access-to-information legislation, The Canadian Pressrequested records given to Newfoundland and Labrador inmates accusedof breaking jail rules for the month of February 2020, before thepandemic changed prisoner counts and internal dynamics.

The documents show that under the internal system, which isseparate from the criminal courts, captains and lieutenants in thecorrections service run the hearings and hand out sentences rangingfrom confinement to cell to a maximum of 10 days in solitaryconfinement. Loss of privileges, such as outdoor recreation, is acommon punishment.

Inmates can also be docked up to 60 days from their earnedremission, which is time off their sentences earned for goodbehaviour.

In some cases, the documents show the same lieutenant chairing ahearing for one inmate and providing witness testimony against aninmate at another.

Violence and drug-related offences get the harshest sentences,normally up to 10 days in segregation and 20 days of lostprivileges. At least twice, it was also recommended that inmateslose seven days of earned remission, but in the end therecommendation was not part of their sentences.

Inmates can shorten a 10-day stay in segregation by up to threedays with good behaviour.

Punished for having a pill

In one case, a man at Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John'swas sentenced to 20 days of lost privileges and 10 days insegregation for having a pill in his cell.

The man "blames being cut off"cold turkey and staff not calling the nurse to order him medicationas the reason for him hoarding meds," the jail documents say.

There are records for 64 charges and hearings in February 2020 atHer Majesty's Penitentiaryalone. Ten of thosecharges were dismissed or resulted in a verdict of not guilty, oftenbecause of technicalities such as an incorrect date on thepaperwork. The remainder 84 per cent of cases led to inmatesbeing found guilty.

A subsequent request for information showed there were 254hearings held across provincial jails in September, October andNovember last year. Of those, 213 also 84 per cent resulted in aguilty verdict.

There were no lawyers present at any of the hearings, thoughinmates can file an appeal. In the 254 hearings held last fall, five appeals were launched. One was successful.

The Canadian Press spoke with several inmates and guards who saidthere is often a direct working relationship between the person wholays the charge and the person who judges it. The inmates, whorequested anonymity for fear of repercussions, called the hearingprocess a "kangaroo court."

Bradley Moss, the province's citizens' representative, said hisoffice received 42 complaints from inmates alleging unfairinstitutional charges in the past two years.

"I do not believe thepresent disciplinary hearing setup is appropriate," Moss said in arecent email. He said the independent system provided for inlegislation is "superior, especially for internal charges on theserious end of the scale."

He said his office has "made this position known" to theprovincial Justice Department on several occasions.

Rules enshrined in the province's Correctional Services Act wouldintroduce independent oversight of these hearings, among otherchanges to the corrections system. But the bill never came intoforce after being given royal assent in 2011. Amendments were madein 2019, and the Liberal government of the day promised the ruleswould take effect that year.

Hogan said he doesn't know why that never happened, adding thathe's been in government for only about a year. The reforms wouldrequire the appointment of adjudicators from outside thecorrectional system. Hogan said that means there are issues of costand logistics to be worked out.

Nonetheless, he said he wants the Correctional Services Act tocome into force some time this year. Inmates, he said, "have justas much entitlement to due process in that situation as any otherworker would" or any other individual before any court system ordispute resolution process."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador