Manitoba bans use of controversial restraint in jails

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2023 (665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government has phased out the use of a full-body restraint in its youth jail and adult remand centre that some advocates have compared to torture.

“I directed the department to phase out its use as soon as possible,” said Justice Minister Matt Wiebe.

“The Wrap” connects a series of straps that bind the inmate’s ankles, legs and torso to a shoulder harness that yanks their body into a sitting position at a near 90-degree angle. The inmate is unable to lean backwards and their hands are cuffed and locked onto the strap system.

The device was designed for use by police to de-escalate conflicts, according to its manufacturer Safe Restraints Inc. of California.

However, independent Sen. Kim Pate, who advocates for corrections reform, thinks it’s brutal and could cause lasting harm.

In Manitoba, use of the device was authorized at the Manitoba Youth Centre and the Winnipeg Remand Centre until the ministerial directive was issued on Nov. 15.

The restraint was used on youths in at least 50 incidents since 2018, the Free Press has learned, including a minimum of five times in 2023.

The province said it was meant to be used to stop inmates from harming themselves, but internal incident reports — which are written by corrections officers — that were obtained by the Free Press suggest it was also being used when youth inmates caused major disturbances or refused to comply with corrections officers’ orders.

“There is no excuse for this to be used in any situation, any circumstance.”–Sen. Kim Pate

Pate called its use in the youth centre unconscionable. Pate is a former executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, which work with women and girls in the justice system.

“There is no excuse for this to be used in any situation, any circumstance. In psychiatric hospitals, the use of restraints, if not eliminated, has certainly been massively curtailed because of the negative impacts to people’s mental health long-term, as well as potential impacts on physical health,” said Pate.

“At every level, this kind of intervention, from my perspective, cannot be characterized as anything but absolutely wrong.”

In response to a freedom-of-information request, the provincial justice department’s correctional division provided reports on 17 of the incidents in which the device was used at the Manitoba Youth Centre in Winnipeg from 2018 to 2023.

Self-harm is mentioned in two of the the 17 reports reviewed by the Free Press, while it is implied in a third report.

In most of the incident reports, the inmates are accused of not following direction and causing a disturbance, or becoming combative with staff.

In some cases, they were accused of threatening to kill staff or hurt other inmates, damaging their cells or other parts of the facility or fighting with other youths.

In one case, in September 2021, a youth who fought with another youth refused to comply with officers who tried to get them to walk elsewhere in the jail.

Corrections officers used the device to fully restrain the youth — whose gender is redacted from the documents — before carrying them elsewhere in the youth centre.

A provincial government spokesperson initially said the device is to be used only in the “most extreme circumstances,” while divisional policy indicated it can only be used to stop “self-harming behaviours.”

“Each use is documented/recorded for later review, if necessary,” the spokesperson said on Thursday.

When asked to explain why the reports reviewed by the Free Press and the policy seem inconsistent, the spokesperson said on Friday the device is “used to prevent self-harm, in situations that typically evolve and require ongoing assessment.”

Regardless, Pate said inmates who have been restrained in the “Wrap” have described it as agonizing.

“I think there are all kinds of forms of torture that have been outlawed. This, to me, particularly for young people, I can’t imagine a more apt description of the experience,” Pate said.

“They physically can’t move, but also mentally become extremely distressed, and often times they’re left so they’re urinating or defecating, sometimes they vomit.”–Sen. Kim Pate

“They physically can’t move, but also mentally become extremely distressed, and often times they’re left so they’re urinating or defecating, sometimes they vomit. They’re trying to flail around to get attention, then they have helmets and spit hoods applied. I have no idea how often and what other interventions are combined with these, but I can’t imagine what it must do to the individual subjected to it.”

The Ontario senator also said she believes youths and others who have had the device used on them may have grounds to file a civil lawsuit against provincial authorities.

Wiebe asked the corrections department on Nov. 15 to work with Manitoba’s children’s advocate and the union for correctional officers to find alternatives to the device.

“I am aware of the use of ‘The Wrap,’ and became aware just after being appointed as justice minister,” Wiebe said.

“I get it, that it is supposed to be a last-resort option, if someone’s being a risk to themselves or our corrections staff, but the reality is that I don’t think it’s considered appropriate in many places across the country and that many concerns have been raised.”

Manitoba was one of three provinces that authorized its use in Canada as of this year, media reports suggest.

It is unclear whether the device was used at the remand centre or at the Agassiz Youth Centre in Portage la Prairie, which closed last March.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca