Dede

[Feministas of Canada @FeministaCanada]

"... no justification for the pepper spraying, beating and “gratuitous cruelty” the man suffered when jail guards carried out a “vengeful” collective punishment of nearly 200 inmates in December 2023 after an inmate punched a guard."

https://t.co/u22DwfkoPi

[DonaldBest.CA * DO NOT COMPLY @DonaldBestCA]

Solitary confinement is pure torture. I know, I was there

by Donald Best

Originally published in the @globeandmail Oct 30, 2016

For the last four years, the province of Ontario has, on behalf of its citizens, confined Adam Capay alone in a small, windowless basement jail cell where the lights are always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to Renu Mandhane, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Mr. Capay, an indigenous 24-year-old man, was kept alone. Not a single person for him to interact with, ever.

They say Mr. Capay has been moved – but what he experienced, for more than 1,500 days, I have no doubt will ever leave him. I know that for the past four years, each moment of Adam Capay's life in solitary was nothing less than torture. Real torture by any definition.

I know this because of what I experienced during my own 63 days as a prisoner in solitary confinement at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont.

I met the abandoned garbage of society. Dangerous, yes – but still human, despite the alert signs over their cell doors that would have you think otherwise: Biter. Escape. Suicide. Danger: Leg irons. 2 Guards + Supervisor to move.

While travelling overseas, I was found guilty in absentia and sentenced to three months in prison for contempt of court during a civil case costs hearing that I was unaware of.

On May 3, 2013, I was taken into custody, shackled and placed into a separate compartment in a prisoner transport van.

Other prisoners were already aware that I was a former police officer. My welcome consisted of threats and gestures that I would be beaten, stabbed, have my throat slit, raped or forced to provide oral sex.

An administrator soon explained that segregation was the only place they could protect me, and warned that it was noisy but the only alternative they had.

Solitary confinement. As a mature, stable and reasonably intelligent 59-year-old Canadian, I had no doubt that I would weather my time in solitary. Piece of cake. A vacation for a tough ex-cop.

The brutal reality started the minute my cell door slammed and I saw that my new home was painted with the excrement, blood and tortured writings of previous occupants.

In the weeks to follow, I soon learned what the administrator meant by noisy: Moans, screams, sobbing, prisoners ranting to nobody – the abandoned are seldom quiet. When my feeding slot was open, I saw prisoners eat their own feces, bang their heads until bloody and fall into a zombie-like state that passes for sleep with the lights on 24 hours a day.

This is happening today. In Ontario. In Canada.

I spent my time counting the noises of impact, as prisoners ran against their cell doors, sometimes thousands of times a day. While on the floor of my cell, listening through the bottom gap of the solid steel door, I heard them moan to hear another voice, desperate for someone to acknowledge their humanity.

Like most prisoners, I found various coping mechanisms: toilet paper earplugs, scheduling intimate activities around the cell checks, waiting for the guard to pass before using the toilet or praying.

Ms. Mandhane reports that Adam Capay has speech and memory problems, and has lost the concept of time and date. This does not surprise me.

In one of my cells I could see a clock in the guard's office. How I came to love that clock.

I talked with my fellow inmates in segregation for a minute here and there each day through our open feeding slots. Some had lost track of who they were, and where they were. Almost everyone makes it to the feeding slot and puts on the best face they can – but then the slot doors slam and the groans start again.

I had loved ones and loyal friends waiting for me at the end of the torture – but most of my fellow prisoners had no such foundation.

Most who go in come out forever devastated. This is clearly understood and stated by many studies, academics and human right advocates.

Canadians are better people than what is revealed by what I saw and experienced in solitary confinement prison cells. Solitary confinement is torture, nothing less.

Donald Best is a former Toronto Police Sergeant (Detective), independent journalist, and anti-corruption advocate. He spent decades as an undercover operative in the public and private sectors and was the sole recipient of the 2018 Ontario Civil Liberties Award.

He can be found on X at @DonaldBestCA and his website https://t.co/xgymDMWydl

[Toronto Star @TorontoStar]

Maplehurst guards told him to sing 'Jingle Bells' during jailhouse beating. How the inmate abuse scandal continues to upend the courts https://t.co/Wm8Ew2xIHS

[Dede @DLK2699]

https://t.co/xaQLaPRVjv

[cherie @imherenow1]

💯👇#onpoli
Isn’t this just dangerous thing to think about?! There’s talk of Ford privatizing jails in Ontario and then add AI to the mix😳Dangerous
Which adds to the question, if privatization is happening, how will AI protect information?
We know Doug Fords history with 🇺🇸

[Corruptario @corruptario]

Let's recap. Doug has seized...

- Billy Bishop airport
- Toronto Islands
- Ontario Place
- Exhibition Place
- The Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which spans from Union Station to the CN Tower

The guy in charge of Ontario Place now is the president of Palantir Canada.

[John Howard Society @JohnHoward_Can]

Prisoners liberties are informed by CSC reports about them. Curious that the government would be using correctional files as a testing ground for AI which is known to bend the facts. Many prisoners report errors in their files now. Oversight?https://t.co/CiDo4TJB9y

[John Howard Society @JohnHoward_Can]

Canada testing AI to profile federal inmates, raising bias and rights concerns: Report https://t.co/ELRYDIsnl2

[John Howard Society @JohnHoward_Can]

Conservative MP draws from personal tragedy to change the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Private member's bill aims to give youth better access to treatment programs
https://t.co/Wih8Zj3BhD

[Dede @DLK2699]

Hamas militants, police units executed and maimed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, UN report says https://t.co/696GdYrmBC

[Dede @DLK2699]

https://t.co/zmDO77MEaL

[Dede @DLK2699]

Number of fatal clashes involving police on the rise, though criminal charges rare, study finds https://t.co/d7HaO69yHw

[Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby]

BREAKING: Another Islamist massacre targeting Christians has occurred in Ethiopia.

At least 50 were slaughtered.

Where is the outrage?

[Nature 🦜and Music 🎶 @GuGi263]

A Friend for All Kids

[Nature Unedited @NatureUnedited]

This cat’s reaction after seeing a tortoise for the first time 😂

[Critical Criminology @critcrim]

"At least seven people were killed through police actions in Canada in May 2026."

"Canadian Police-Involved Deaths in May 2026" | The Media Co-op https://t.co/6L5daqr3AP

[Eli Afriat 🇮🇱 @EliAfriatISR]

If you forgot this picture, then you forgot the morning of October 7th. 💔

[John Howard Society @JohnHoward_Can]

Being exposed to violent crime scenes is traumatic for all. Fact check: Aren't prisoners rather than COs hired to do the regular prison cleaning? Do COs clean crime scenes? https://t.co/JK2LhtcsPo