CSC has not adhered to Article 3 of the Declaration, especially with respect to the imposition of maximum security classification and the de facto segregation of maximum security women, which arguably tantamount to “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of FSW:

Article 3: No State may permit or tolerate torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Exceptional circumstances such as a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (emphasis added).

Furthermore, Article 6 of the Declaration sets out that:

Article 6: Each State shall keep under systematic review interrogation methods and practices as well as arrangements for custody and treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in its territory, with a view to preventing any cases of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (emphasis added).

CSC’s failure to adequately conduct a systematic review of its classification system, and in particular, CSC’s failure to recognize the differences in race and gender of FSW in its provision of programs and service, constitutes “cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment” of FSW classified by CSC as maximum security prisoners, violations of both Articles 3 and 6 of the Declaration.

The Convention is substantively similar to the Declaration. As a signatory to the Convention, Canada is in violation of Articles 16 and 11 for the same reasons it has contravened Article 6 of the Declaration:

Article 16 (1): Each State Party, shall undertake to prevent any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined by article 1, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligation contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (emphasis added).

Article 11: Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture [as per Article 16: other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment]