TORONTO — A lawsuit alleging the Ontario government violated the rights of inmates by placing them inappropriately in solitary confinement can proceed as a class action, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The province did not oppose certification of the $600-million action whose representative plaintiff maintains his already fragile mental health was exacerbated by stints in segregation. Other inmates put in the “hole” for 15 days or longer since that time are also included in the class. His mental health in solitary worsened to the point such that he had suicidal thoughts and auditory hallucinations, he alleged. In January, the Ontario government and province’s human rights authorities announced an agreement to stop placing mentally compromised inmates in solitary barring exceptional circumstances.

Source: National Post September 19, 2018 17:03 UTC