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Yukon government releases Whitehorse Correctional Centre inspection report

The report contains 40 recommendations on how facilities and services at the WCC should be improved
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David Loukidelis is seen during a justice conference in Whitehorse April 6. Loukidelis’s report on conditions at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC) was release Aug. 15. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News file)

The Yukon government has released the report produced after an independent inspection of the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC), which contains 40 recommendations on how the WCC should improve or change its facilities and services.

Among those recommendations are creating a mental wellness unit at the WCC, training all correctional officers on how to work with individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, limiting the use of separate confinement to no more than 15 days in a year and establishing a First Nations advisory board.

The government released the report, as well as a “matrix” of the report’s recommendations and the government’s responses, the afternoon of Aug. 15.

The report was written by legal advisor David Loukidelis, who Justice Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee appointed to conduct an inspection of the WCC in November 2017. McPhee originally ordered the inspection of the WCC in September 2017 following the conclusion of the Michael Nehass case, which raised questions about the treatment and resources available at the to First Nations inmates and inmates with mental health issues as well as allegations of solitary confinement, among other things.

Loukidelis began his independent inspection in January, and as part of the work, had access to the facility, spoke to corrections workers, current and prior WCC inmates, various Yukon First Nations and other community groups, and also reviewed thousands of documents and files.

He submitted his report to the Yukon government May 15. The government had promised to release the report and its response to it within 90 days.

The 96-page report focuses four key areas — mental health services, the use and effects of separate confinement, improving outcomes for First Nations individuals and justice system initiatives.

While Loukidelis applauds several practices and initiatives the WCC and Yukon justice system already has in place, such as the substance abuse management and treatment programs available to inmates and the community wellness courts, the report also points out a number of shortcomings.

Those include the extent to which mental health support and treatment is available, the ability to deliver culturally-appropriate programming for First Nations inmates, and a portion of the Corrections Regulation that allows for an inmate to be placed in separate confinement based solely on whether the individual is believed to be suffering from “mental illness.”

In a press conference following the release of Loukidelis’s report, McPhee said that the government has accepted the recommendations.

“We will improve how we deliver programs and services at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre to all inmates, and enhance support for inmates with mental health and addictions issues,” she said. “Yukoners must have confidence in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre operations. We need to do better and we will. I believe this report gives us solid footing to make necessary changes.”

Timelines for when any of the 40 recommendations would be implemented were not provided, but McPhee said that the Yukon government has already began working on some of them in collaboration with Yukon First Nations and other parties involved in the justice field.

It’s also not clear, even though the Yukon government “accepts” the recommendations, whether all of them will be acted on. In its matrix of the recommendations and responses, some of the recommendations are listed as “accepted” while others are listed as “under consideration.”

The full report can be found online here.

The Yukon government’s response is here.

More to come.

Contact Jackie Hong at jackie.hong@yukon-news.com