Isolation used on 6.7 per cent of Whitehorse inmates

The Yukon government says “separate confinement,” or isolation is used only as a last resort at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

Yukon’s justice department recently a refused a request under access to information legislation for information on the number of individuals held in administrative segregation over the past two and a half years.

However, the government has provided statistics for the year 2013, which were first read at the legislative assembly in March.

The department says 60 individuals were separately confined in that year, or 6.7 per cent of inmates. Of those, 10 were confined for medical reasons, three were voluntarily confined and 46 were confined because of their conduct.

The department says most of the stays were 72-hours or shorter. The longest stay in 2013 was 79 days.  

As of Sept. 11, three people were held in separate confinement: one voluntarily, one on suicide watch and one following a disciplinary hearing.

Yukon’s Corrections Act allows separate confinement for 15 days with the option to renew for further 15-day periods.