Woman who spent 16 days in extreme solitary confinement sues federal government

A woman who spent 16 days in an extreme form of lone confinement in a prison in Nueva Scotia is now demanding the federal government for damage.

In 2020, Lisa Adams and her lawyers successfully argued before a judge in New Scotland that her rights Charter had been raped after spending 16 days in a “dry cell” suspected that he hid drugs in his vagina while serving a sentence in the Nova de Nova institution for women in Truro.

A “dry cell” can be used for male and female inmates suspected of ingesting or hiding contraband inside their bodies. It is a lonely room without toilet or running water.

The inmate is observed through a glass window and a security chamber at all times, even while using the toilet, until the article is removed through the person’s body waste. There is always some form of lighting in a dry cell, since the guards must take notes about what the intern is doing every 15 minutes.

Adams finally requested a pelvic exam from a doctor, who discovered that he had no objects inside her.

In response to your case, The federal government changed the law and imposed new restrictions on the use of “dried cells.” The amendments establish a maximum of 72 hours for the dry cell, although the head of the institution can extend that in an extra of 24 to 48 hours under certain conditions.

“All this has been a roller coaster, with all honesty,” Adams said in a recent interview in Halifax.

Difficult memories

Adams now lives in San Juan, near his mother and two children. She was released from prison in early 2021 after a two -year sentence for drug trafficking, and is no longer under any condition.

His civil case is scheduled to begin on June 16, and Adams says it has been difficult to prepare mentally.

In the dry cell, the medical staff said he had a mental rest in which he murmured to herself, she could not follow the instructions, rubbed her hands on her arms continuously, put her hair and seemed “nervous” and “scared by sudden noises and movements.”

Adams said he has tried to “share” the experience, but the legal case has prevented him from moving forward.

“I know I will have to visit it again and visit it again when I go to trial,” he said.

“So I have still put it aside from healing completely, because I didn’t want to experience all the details and have to cross it again.”

Looking for compensation

The 2020 case of Adams was a charter challenge and not a lawsuit, so there was no compensation attached to the decision. That is why their lawyers return to court with a civil case now.

“She suffered an immense amount of psychological damage as a result of [the dry cell]. And that’s what this case is about, “said Mike Dull Dull, one of the Halifax headquarters representing Adams.

Dull argues that previous decisions imposed restrictions on lone confinement and that correctional officials erroneously acted in the case of Adams.

“What we are arguing is that the law, the courts, need to hold them responsible,” he said. “And the way in which the justice system can do that is through financial means.”

Dull refused to discuss how much Adams’s legal team is looking for, but the courts said they ordered compensation for other cases of lone confinement.

Government Defense

In his defense statement, the Canada government said that Adams had “reasonable access” to a legal advisor and daily visits of medical professionals, and that a urine test and the search for drugs Drug detector revealed sufficient evidence of the use of methamphetamine to give the institution “reasonable motifs” to believe that Adams had drugs in a body cavity.

The defense affirms that there was no negligence or breach of duty towards Adams, which did not violate their rights of the letter and that he has no right to damage because his actions fulfilled the law, since he reads at that time and was not “incorrect, taken in bad faith or an abuse of power.”

The Government Defense Declaration agreed that a doctor’s examination found nothing within Adams and declared that “Canada acknowledges that the confinement of [Adams] In a dry cell in the circumstances of this case it was unfortunate. ”

In response to a CBC investigation, Canada’s correctional service said they are moving towards “less invasive” search methods, and regulatory amendments around the use of body scanners entered into force last fall.

Class action demand does not proceed

In a separate case, a proposed class action against the dry cell will not continue due to the lack of participants.

A limited number of women joined to join class action, and determine which of their cases involved a dry cell instead of another form of administrative segregation became complicated.

The case was led by the same lawyers who represent Lisa Adams, but she was not part of the proposed class action.

In a summary of the defense to the proposed class action, the Federal Government declared that between 2013 and 2022, the “dried cell protocol” was used in 90 inmates in the five federal institutions of women in Canada.

Mike Dull said it became difficult to define “what is and what is not dry cell”, and the case could not move on.

‘She was, in our opinion, tortured’

The Adams case is supported by Elizabeth Fry Society of Nueva Scotia and the Canadian Association of Societies Elizabeth Fry (CAEF). Elizabeth Fry Sociedad advocates by women who have been involved with the justice system.

The executive director of CAEFS, Emilie Coyle, said that her organization worked closely with the government when she changed the drafting of the dry cell law.

She says that Canadians should take into account that at that time Adams was dry, it was part of the law. In his opinion, this was wrong.

“In our opinion, she was tortured in those conditions for 16 days. And the fact that she can be here and talk about her experiences is quite remarkable, because she experienced some very traumatic treatment at the hands of our state,” Coyle said.