(TLN) A Quebec Superior Court judge last week refused to grant an injunction that would have forced the women-only Leclerc Institution provincial jail to improve conditions for two inmates.
After detainees complained for years about conditions at the centre, a lawyer recently filed an injunction request on behalf of two inmates to force improvements. Although a temporary injunction was refused, Quebec’s correctional services department has pledged to provide better heating in the building.
Mounting problems
Among the problems reported by the inmates in whose name the injunction was sought were poor water quality, limited access to showers, inadequate heating and overall uncleanliness. There have also been complaints about frequent and arbitrary strip searches.
At one time a high-security federal penitentiary, Leclerc is now rented by the provincial government. Critics have pointed out the facility’s inappropriateness as a detention centre for women, saying among other things that the cells are small, while also noting it offers little in terms of rehabilitation programs or health care services.
