N.S. news: Continual lockdowns of inmate ruled unlawful [Video]

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled constant lockdowns at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility more than a month ago were unlawful and deprived an inmate of their liberty.

According to a written decision dated May 1, Justice Peter P. Rosinski ruled inmate Ryan Wilband “experienced a material deprivation of his residual liberty” due to regular lockdowns between March 17 and April 8.

Rosinski specifically ruled Wilband was deprived of liberty on March 17, March 18, March 19, March 25, April 2, and April 3, stating the inmate was allowed out of his cell for a maximum of five-and-a-half hours at the most on one day and less than two-and-a-half hours at the least on another day.

“Senior Correctional Services staff made the decisions to reduce the unlock times for inmate in issue here lawfully – i.e., there was a legal basis to do so and the process by which they came to those decisions was sufficiently procedurally fair, however …