(OTTAWA) The federal government says it will end the controversial practice of confining inmates to dry cells when they are suspected of carrying contraband in their vaginal cavity.
Posted at 2:08 p.m.
Dry cells are essentially a form of solitary confinement in which prisoners suspected of carrying contraband in their bodies are subjected to light and 24-hour surveillance, and denied access to running water.
The idea is that they will eventually evacuate any substance they may be hiding.
Former federal inmate Lisa Adams was subjected to a dry cell for more than two weeks in 2020, before a pelvic exam revealed she was hiding nothing in her body.
She launched a legal challenge, in which the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ruled the practice illegal and ordered the government to review its legislation.
In the budget tabled last Thursday, the federal government indicates that it will amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to prohibit this practice for people suspected of concealing contraband in their vaginal cavity. But it makes no mention of doing away with the controversial dry cell practice entirely.