“Today, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia argues in Truro’s Supreme Court that the “dry cells” provision in the federal Corrections and Conditional Release Act violates Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
Dry cells are the practice of placing an incarcerated person in a room without plumbing, until, presumably, they defecate or vomit contraband they are suspected of hiding. They are observed 24-7, and their waste is subject to inspection. It is worse than solitary confinement.
As a nurse and researcher working in reproductive health and criminalization, I believe health-care providers have a responsibility to oppose dry cells as a practice that causes physical, mental and emotional harm.
Over 85 per cent of incarcerated women are survivors of childhood sexual and physical abuse. This early trauma is a determinant of criminalization. Most incarcerated women also have diagnoses of mental illness, and histories of substance use disorder. Dry-celling clearly retraumatizes.
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