AGP partner Michael Spratt joined APTN to discuss the recent political discussion about bail reform. Every discussion of our bail system must start with the fundamental constitutional principles that have been enshrined in the Charter — the presumption of innocence and the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause.
Every person denied bail is presumed innocent. We should not seek to punish people before they have been found guilty.
And pre-trial detention is punishment of the worst kind.
Imagine a jail so devoid of humanity that guards stand idly by while a pregnant woman gives birth in her jail cell, or a jail so lawless that guards can brutalize inmates and then cover up the abuse with impunity, or jail so overcrowded inmates are forced to sleep in wet shower cells, or a jail so dirty that clothing and bedding are stained with urine, feeces and blood.
This is not hyperbole; this is reality.
We lock people up because they are poor, homeless, addicted, sick or marginalized. Sadly, rehabilitation programming, addiction counseling, and mental health treatment are non-existent for most inmates of Ontario’s jails.
The dirty secret of the justice system is that people come out of jail in worse shape than when they went in.
Our jails are incredibly expensive factories of suffering that interfere with rehabilitation, cut accused people off from family and community support, result in homelessness and unemployment, and make our communities less safe.
Most disturbingly, pre-trial detention results in a perverse incentive to admit guilt to escape horrendous jail conditions rather than wait months and months for a trial.
Any solutions to perceived crime increases are not to be found in changing bail law, but looking at increased access to justice, upstream social programs, and bail support and enforcement.
There is a crisis in our bail system – just not the one the politicians and police are selling the public.
