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Instructor/Advisor

Professor Karen Hayden

Keywords

corrections, solitary confinement, criminal justice

Abstract

Once Courts in Canada “confirmed that solitary confinement violates" the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, structured intervention units (SIUs) were created as a reform (Pate, 2019, para. 3). This reform sought to remove administrative segregation and create change to the circumstances when an inmate is confined in these SIUs. While this sounds like a step in the right direction in practice, implementing SIUs may have created a worse situation for those confined due to the lack of ‘oversight’ and ‘accountability’ of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).

My research paper examines whether structured intervention units (SIUs) are a step towards a more rehabilitative approach. The examination will address the use of solitary confinement in both the United States and Canada and compare it to the newer use of structured intervention units in Canada. This will include comparing the differences between the three in definition and application, as well as the problems that have been identified as being related to the use of each of these strategies in order to determine if the shift is in fact a more rehabilitative approach. Finally, to conclude, I will seek to look beyond SIUs, considering some correctional goals that both Canada and the US can strive towards to help rehabilitate the individual as well as society in their response to crime.

A Solitary Alternative: Structured Intervention Units in Canadian Prisons

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