The treatment of a 15-year-old Victoria girl who was confined for four nights and five days in a police lockup in Kamloops is absolutely unacceptable and contrary to government promises, says her defence lawyer Richard Schwartz.
The teenager, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared by video in Victoria youth court on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty to breaching a condition of her probation, which required her to attend a full-time substance abuse program in Kamloops.
Judge Robert Higinbotham sentenced the girl to one day, time served.
“She suffered from some rather unique penalties by virtue of the fact that she is a young person and she is a woman,” Higinbotham said, noting that the Youth Criminal Justice Act requires youth to be held separately from adults. “There are no facilities in the Kamloops area for youth, let alone female youth.”
Prosecutor Chandra Fisher told Higinbotham that the girl, who is a ward of the Ministry for Children and Family Development, would not co-operate and was dismissed from the substance abuse program. She was arrested June 30 on a warrant and spent the night in police cells. She attended a telebail hearing on July 1. She was remanded to Burnaby youth custody centre, but was not transferred because of the holiday.
On July 3, arrangements were made to fly her to Burnaby. Because commercial airlines require 24-hour notice to fly prisoners, she was flown out on July 4.
“This means, for the period of time she was in Kamloops, she was out of touch with her support network in Victoria. She was kept in poor facilities — no proper bed, no facilities for showering and in the company of adults in various stages of intoxication in adjoining cells and in various degrees of distress from mental illness,” Higinbotham said.
“This is not the sort of thing that is contemplated under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It is sometimes unavoidable in the smaller communities in this province. In this case, it was perhaps avoidable by at least engaging a government aircraft on July 1, even though it was a holiday, and transporting her to Burnaby.”
Fisher asked for a 90-day sentence to keep the girl sober and safe.
Schwartz asked for her immediate release, telling Higinbotham that the girl was held in 24-hour lockdown and was unable to shower for five days. The lights were on 24 hours a day. She was fed a muffin and two sandwiches every day. She had no visits and no contact with family, counsellors or social workers.
A statement issued by the Ministry for Children and Family Development said there is no need to change practice around youth transport. “On very rare occasions, exceptional circumstances may impact the timely transport of youth, including: statutory holidays, scheduled court appearances, flight availabilities and airline security requirements for prisoner movements,” the statement said.
“In the case of female youth, we have made specific provisions that they are to be flown at the earliest opportunity to the Burnaby youth custody centre.”
Statutory holidays are hardly exceptional circumstances, said Schwartz, who has been a vocal opponent of the government’s decision to close the Victoria Youth Custody Centre.
“Does that mean every long weekend, female youths are going to spend three days in police cells? It’s just not good enough.”
B.C. Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux announced in April that the government is closing the Victoria jail due to the declining number of youth in custody. The jail was built for 60, but has been budgeted to hold a maximum of 24 since the girls’ unit closed in 2012.
The province began transferring youth in the jail to Burnaby and Prince George last week. A date for the Victoria centre’s closing has not been set.
It’s still unclear where youth will be held for short stays on southern Vancouver Island once the jail closes. Police have said they will refuse to house them in their cells, and the ministry has yet to say how it will deal with that.
The government response doesn’t explain why the girl sat there until Friday or why the government has a standing agreement to use Air Canada, which requires 24 hours notice, when they have their own sheriff’s planes, Schwartz said.
“They’re clearly not making every effort to move female youth on a priority basis.”
The needs of vulnerable youth are being put behind the need to save a few more pennies, Schwartz said.
“A situation like this is exactly where the money saved should have been used to provide her with adequate, timely transport. … They had promised exactly this would not happen.”
