Boy isolated 400 days: Manitoba urged to end long solitary confinement for youth
WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s children’s advocate is urging the province to stop lengthy solitary confinement of youth in custody after a review that found one boy was isolated for 400 straight days in a cell no bigger than a parking stall.
Daphne Penrose and provincial ombudsman Marc Cormier jointly investigated the use of solitary confinement, segregation and pepper spray in Manitoba’s youth jails.
Penrose said in a 100-page report released Thursday that the province should immediately end solitary confinement longer than 24 hours for kids in custody.