Lawyer calls for dismissal as N.S. Supreme Court hears prisoner dry cell case
Federal government lawyer argues constitutional challenge would be more appropriate legal avenue
Lawyers from the Elizabeth Fry Society and the federal government presented arguments Monday in Truro, N.S., in the case of a woman challenging the use of a prison search practice called "dry celling."
At the centre of the case in Nova Scotia Supreme Court is Lisa Adams, an inmate who was placed in a dry cell at the Nova Institution in Truro for 16 days this past May. Adams is serving a two-year sentence for drug trafficking.
The Saint John, N.B., woman was watched in the cell with round-the-clock lighting and without a flushing toilet or running water after guards alleged she hid drugs in her vagina. Eventually, a doctor's examination revealed that Adams had no foreign objects in her body.
Adams and her lawyers have argued the practice is cruel, unconstitutional, and discriminatory to people with vaginas.
Ami Assignon, the federal lawyer representing the Correctional Service of Canada, said the practice of dry celling can be carried out constitutionally, and argued the law that governs it should not be struck down as the court has been asked to do.
"An inmate should not be placed in the dry cell if the contraband is hidden in the vaginal cavity," said Assignon. "In this case, a mistake was made."
Call for dismissal
Assignon said Adams is using habeas corpus, an expedited type of legal hearing, to make constitutional arguments about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The lawyer called on the court to dismiss the case, arguing a different type of legal hearing — such as a constitutional challenge — would be more appropriate in the matter.
Adams's lawyer, Jessica Rose, said habeas corpus is the correct format to use as it deals with wrongful detentions. Rose said the court should not restrict access to Charter arguments.
The Correctional Service of Canada lawyer's argument that what happened to Adams was an administrative mistake that did not need to be addressed in this court case was "totally insufficient," said Rose.
Adams was in court to listen to the arguments but did not testify.
'It's really hard to hear'
Her mother, Glenda Mason, said outside court it was "very upsetting" to hear the details of what happened to her 33-year-old daughter.
"As a mother, it's really hard to hear. Really hard to hear that your child went through something like that," said Mason, who travelled to the hearing from New Brunswick with Adams's brother.
Mason said she hopes to see change come out of the court challenge, so that no one will have to go through a similar experience in the future.
"For Lisa to be a part of that would make me very proud," she said.
Justice John Keith has reserved his decision.
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