B.C. judge tells prison to detail in writing why it’s segregating woman

VANCOUVER — A B.C. Supreme Court judge has directed a prison in Prince George to inform an inmate in writing before she could be placed back in restrictive custody, where she spent most of the last three years awaiting trial.

Teresa Charlie’s application to the court for release from enhanced supervision placement at the regional correction centre says the isolation is hardly different from segregation.

Charlie’s complaint says she spends the three hours a day she’s allowed out of her cell alone and the isolation does little to improve her negative tendencies.

The prison claimed during a hearing last month that Charlie, who’s awaiting trial for being an accessory after the fact to murder, is a danger to herself and others and her aggressive behaviour includes physical assaults on inmates.

Charlie was released into the general population in the week before the hearing, and an affidavit from the warden said any decision from the court would be pointless.

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But Justice Kenneth Affleck ruled that Charlie could be moved back into enhanced supervision and he ordered prison staff to let her know in writing about the “who, what, where and when of alleged misbehaviour that led to the decision.”