’20 minutes a day’: Advocates say B.C. prison COVID-19 lockdown goes too far

An advocacy group for prisoners says a COVID-19 lockdown at a B.C. prison is going too far.

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) reported dozens of inmates at the Mission Medium Institution have tested positive for COVID-19.

As a result, according to Prisoners’ Legal Services, inmates are only allowed out of their cells for 20 minutes a day.

But Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of the group, says in reality the time is much less.

“People are getting maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and that time out of the cell is spent alone. So we’re really concerned about the mental health impact of that on people at Mission,” she explained.

Metcalfe points out prisoners usually spend the majority of the day outside of their cells.

“In a medium security institution, people would have pretty much free movement during waking hours. There might be smaller periods of time when people are locked in their cells, but for the most part, [they] would have free movement,” she noted.

In addition to being restricted inside of their cells, Metcalfe says that all programming, activities, jobs, and library access has also been halted — including visiting hours.

Because of the time limit, she says inmates need to make the decision to take care of personal hygiene or spend time talking on the phone.

“You’d have to choose between having a shower, using the phone, there’s been limited access to laundry. And we’ve heard reports that food quality is poor and there’s no ability to heat up cold meals,” she explained.

Long-term impact of isolation

Metcalfe says keeping people in their cells for this amount of time is like being in solitary confinement — something she says can cause mental health issues.

“Canadian courts have found that solitary confinement is unconstitutional. It causes mental health deterioration after 15 days. It’s considered cruel treatment for anyone for any amount of time who has a pre-existing mental health condition,” she explains.

“The United Nations considers it, in those circumstances, to be cruel treatment or torture.”

But this isn’t the first time the institution has experienced conditions like these.

Metcalfe explains that at the beginning of the pandemic, the prison went into a similar lockdown situation.

“Mission Medium had a lockdown that lasted four months, where people were held in conditions of solitary confinement…we received some pretty atrocious reports of the impact of that on people’s mental health,” she said.

“More concerning is the long term effects of this kind of isolation,” Metcalfe explained. “The research shows that the use of prolonged solitary confinement can cause long-term mental health problems like paranoia, anxiety, depression.”

The group has reached out to the commissioner of Correctional Service Canada to intervene in the situation, adding that the lockdown has been in effect for at least 10 days.

“We’ve called on Anne Kelly…to take action and end this lockdown immediately, to ensure that people have the basics that they need to maintain their mental health,” she said.

CSC reported as of Oct. 16, at the location there are 84 active cases, 218 inmates have tested positive to date, and one death. Currently, this is the largest active outbreak at a corrections institution in the country.

Coping with isolation is different

Metcalfe says given many prisoners are vaccinated, these kinds of restrictions are too extreme —  especially in light of loosened restrictions across the province.

“It appears that the current lockdown at Mission is not only a breach of the policies…it is also in stark contrast to the current community public health guidelines,” Metcalfe said in a letter to the commissioner.

“Using a one-size fits all strategy of placing everyone under lockdown does not meet public health criteria for COVID-19 isolation,” she added.

Metcalfe says one of the differences with being isolated in prison is access to resources.

“People in the community have experienced self isolation if they have COVID. But in the community, we have access to phones, and we can video with our friends and family, and we have access to various forms of entertainment, which people just don’t have in prison,” she said.

The prison is located in Mission, B.C.

In a statement to CityNews, the Correctional Service of Canada says “this is an evolving situation,” adding it continues to “apply and reinforce infection prevention and control measures to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19.”

“Mission Institution has been in close communication with the Fraser Health Authority,” the emailed statement reads in part.

“The institution is operating on a modified routine for health purposes in order to maintain the safety of staff and offenders. During the timeframe of an active outbreak of COVID-19, inmate movements are modified in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and risk of transmission. Once the outbreaks are declared over, inmate movements will resume. After the seventh day following exposure, inmates who are medically recovered or who continue to test negative are cleared for regular movement. Inmates who decline to test or continue to display symptoms continue to remain on medical isolation.

“When institutions are on modified routines for health purposes, movements are carefully considered within the institutions, including between ranges, to ensure physical distancing is maintained, as much as possible, and we are limiting possible spread where we have symptomatic or positive cases. Inmates that are following a modified routine for health purposes are seen regularly to identify any needs and to facilitate referrals to services such as health care,” the service adds.