More than 70% of people in N.S. jails are waiting for their day in court: report

Most people who are incarcerated in Nova Scotia jails haven't yet been found innocent or guilty of a crime and are waiting to have their day in court, a new report examining the conditions in provincial correctional facilities has found.

The third annual report from the East Coast Prison Justice Society's visiting committee found that from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2023, more than 70 per cent of incarcerated people in provincial jails were in pre-trial custody. That's an increase from about 66 per cent in 2021-22. 

Pre-trial custody — coupled with "near-continuous lockdowns," particularly at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth — has had a detrimental effect on the mental and physical health of inmates, the report said.

The concerns raised in the report were brought forward by callers to the visiting committee's jail line, which is available to all inmates in the province's four jails.

The report said Nova Scotia jails are often using lockdowns, or prolonged time in cells across whole units or facilities, to deal with staff shortages.

Callers to the jail line described the lockdowns "as profoundly destructive" to mental and physical health.

Six inmate deaths 

The report went on to note that from September 2022 to June 2024, there were six inmate deaths — five of which happened at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, commonly known as the Burnside jail. The causes of death in those cases varied from suicide to complications from pneumonia, the report noted.

"These deaths must be situated in light of continuing institutional patterns whereby the vulnerability and marginalization common to incarcerated populations — including intersecting oppressions based in disability, poverty, racialization and Indigeneity — has attracted increasingly harsh securitization," said the report.

The report noted several ways lockdowns are harmful, including creating or exacerbating serious health problems and worsening long-standing barriers to accessing jail-based health services.

It also said lockdowns can hinder an incarcerated person's ability to communicate with lawyers, their family or other community supports. This leads to more pre-trial time in jail by impeding bail, thereby adding to the number of people in pre-trial custody across the system.

Lockdowns also impede plans for release from custody, which the report said may increase recidivism, or what it described as "crimes of desperation on release."

"Finally lockdowns and their knock-on effects contribute to wrongful convictions as people are prevented from mounting an adequate defence while simultaneously being pressured by intolerable conditions to simply plead guilty, whether that means accepting time served or moving on to federal time," the report said.

Justice minister says conditions improving

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Barbara Adams acknowledged Tuesday there have been significant staffing challenges in the province's jails, but she said conditions are getting better.

"There has been significant improvement. I don't have the exact number of the new hires, but I know they've made substantial changes and that the number of lockdowns has dramatically reduced over time," Adams told reporters.

Earlier this year, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge ruled it's unlawful to lock down inmates in provincial jails because of staffing shortages. 

Adams said Tuesday that while lockdowns are unfortunate, emergency situations can sometimes warrant locking down a facility.

"The question is, how long does it last and how often is it happening? And from my last briefing, it has significantly dropped both in the length of time as well as the number of incidents."

When asked about the six deaths, the minister said any death in custody is a tragedy. She pointed to a review committee created last year that is tasked with examining the circumstances leading up to a death and making recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

In its report, the East Coast Prison Justice Society called on the province to legislate mandatory public reviews of deaths in custody.