Prison Deaths Result from Inadequate Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates

Prison Deaths Result from Inadequate Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates

04 March 2009

Prison Deaths Result from Inadequate Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada – The Correctional Service of Canada broke its own regulations by holding a troubled inmate in solitary confinement for most of the year she spent in federal prisons before she killed herself.

In a critical report, Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers detailed how repeated bureaucratic failures contributed to the death of a teen who choked herself in her cell in 2007. Guards confused about response policy waited about 25 minutes to call for medical help after they noticed she was choking. They did not immediately check the teen’s vital signs or offer first aid after finally cutting the material from her neck.

The story is one that continues a disturbing and a well-documented pattern of deaths in custody which are the result of under-resources and disjointed correctional and mental-health-care system. The torment of mentally ill inmates who only get sicker behind bars is a growing problem that a buckling corrections system can’t handle.

The correctional service is assessing patients earlier, directing more resources to treatment and training staff better, but many of those changes are new, and it is unclear how well they’re working.  Prisons need to work federal and provincial health and justice and corrections officials to come up with a national strategy.

The health system’s failure to cope with the mentally ill has led to many ending up in jail.
Activists have argued that it is harder for mentally ill individuals who are sent to jails to get into the treatment facilities they really need, and that what is really needed are programs to ensure mentally ill people who break the law are diverted to treatment, rather than prisons.  Correctional facilities are not the facilities to deliver mental-health care. The government needs to ensure the mentally ill don’t get into those facilities in the first place.

For more information, please see:

National Post – System-wide failures led to Ontario teen’s prison suicide: report – 3 March 2009

The Canadian Press – Teen’s prison death ‘entirely preventable’: watchdog – 3 March 2009

The Globe and Mail – Instructed to curtail crushing red tape, guards watched girl die in her cell – 3 March 2009

The Globe and Mail – Systemic failures led to teen’s prison death: report – 3 March 2009

ICC Issues Arrest Warrant Omar Hassan Al-Bashir

Today, the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.  This is the first time that the ICC has issued such a warrant for a sitting head of state. The office of the United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Association of the USA have issued statements regarding the decision.


For further information, please see press releases here and here.

International Criminal Court Accepting Children’s Drawings as Evidence

March 4, 2009

International Criminal Court Accepting Children’s Drawings as Evidence

The International Criminal Court has begun accepting children’s drawings as supporting evidence of alleged crimes taking place in Darfur. The pictures depict the horrors of the region as seen through the eyes of a child provide vivid insight into what is going on on the ground.

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For more on these images and their use by the ICC, please see the BBC’s coverage here.

North Korea is Prepare for “A Satellite Launch”

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea military officials and the U.S.-led UN Command met for talks at Panmunjom today.  It is the first time in seven years after the tension rises over North Korea planned rocket launch.  According to the U.N. Command, North Korea requested this meeting to discuss tension reduction on the Korean Peninsula.

During the talk, North Korea complained the forthcoming joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. troops.  Froom March 9 to 20, South Korean and U.S. troops will hold the annual joint military exercise.  About 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and 14,000 from off-peninsula, along with South Korean forces will be involved in the exercise.  North warned US and South Korea to stop “provocations” in the area or face retaliation.  The United Nations Command said they discussed ways to ease tensions and agreed to further talks.

Fears of a border clash escalated as North Korea prepare to test a long-range missile for what it calls a satellite launch.  North Korea may launch the test missile in the middle of March to match the timing of the South Korea and U.S. joint military exercises, the Japanese newspaper, Sankei reported.  Satellite images show a launch pad is being prepared, the report cites an unidentified official at Japan’s Ministry of Defense.  South Korean news media also report North Korea is testing radar and other monitoring equipment in preparation for a satellite launch.  North Korea has rejected calls to give up the launch.

South Korea and US say the test missile could theoretically reach Alaska. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for “restraint”.  He says that no one forbids anyone to launch satellites, but on the other hand, we must understand what kind of missile this is.  At the same time, the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers agreed a rocket launch for any reason would violate a UN resolution passed after the last missile test in 2006.

For more information, please see:

AFP – North Korea, UN hold talks amid border tensions – 02 March 2009

CNN – Rare North Korea, U.N. talks last 32 minutes – 02 March 209

Korean Time – NK Holds Rare Meeting With UN Command – 03 March 2009

International Herald Tribune – South Korea’s Lee calls on North to stop missile plans – 03 March 2009

Voice of American – North Korea Requests Rare Meeting With UN Command – 02 March 2009

Voice of American – South Korea: North Testing Radar, Ahead of Planned Launch – 02 March 2009

Taliban Forces Students into Islamic Madrasas

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

AFGHANISTAN – Due to the insurgency in southern Afghanistan, many schools have been closed and students have been attacked for trying to attend. As a result, going to school has become increasingly dangerous for students and teachers. This has caused many youths to attend madrasas in Pakistan.

Hence, the parents of Abdul Wakil sent their son to a madrasa in Pakistan. But a mere two months home, he quit and returned home.

“In the madrasas we were taught to sacrifice ourselves for Jihad in Afghanistan and were told to do suicide attacks,” said 14 year old Wakil. “I don’t want to be a suicide attacker, because it’s forbidden in Islam, so I secretly quit the madrasa and returned home.”

His parents are concerned for his safety. “If the Taliban find out about him, they will kill him,” said Wakil’s father. “We are also concerned about his education and his future.”

Madrasas typically provide classes about Islam, free education, shelter and food. Madrasas are funded by private donors.

“Pakistani madrasas brainwash students and teach them religious extremism, armed Jihad and hatred against the government in Afghanistan and the West,” said Gulab Mangal, the Helmand province’s governor.

Madrasas are believed to be a recruiting ground for militant organizations. In fact, the Taliban has been strongly linked to them.

But supporters of madrasas claim that the religious schools are necessary in countries where of Muslims live in poverty and state educational infrastructure is poor.

Today, Pakistan alone is home to over 13,000 madrasas. The rise in the number of madrasas increased in the 1980s when they became recruiting grounds for Islamic volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Some madrasas later supplied recruits for the Taliban regime.

President Pervez Musharraf attempted to reform madrasas, but failed due to strong support of the education. The International Crisis Group claims that madrasas have survived attacks from the government because of the government’s reliance on religious parties.

For more information, please see:

CRS Report for Congress – Islamic Religious Schools, Madrasas – 23 January 2008

Irin – Afghanistan: Taliban Forces Students Out of Schools into Madrasas – 17 February 2009

Reuters – Factbox:  Key Facts about Pakistan’s Islamic Madrasas – 10 July 2007

Reuters – Pakistani Taliban Force Girls’ Schools to Close – 17 January 2009