Solitary confinement continues in Canada, just by any other name: SIUs, Mental Health Monitoring, Medical Isolation, Dry Celling, Lockdowns.

Join groups and individuals from across the country to put a spotlight on the ongoing practice of solitary confinement. Join us for daily events, discussion, and action.

Today we will be focusing on the response to COVID-19 in prisons through an international lens.

Our Panelists Include:

David H. Cloud , JD/MPH is the Research Director for Amend at the University of California, San Francisco. Amend is a program grounded in public health and human rights that works to transform correctional systems to improve the health of people who live and work in these settings. He is also an expert on leveraging the theories, methods, and ethics of public health and harm reduction to address solitary confinement and other features of the U.S. criminal legal system that underlie health equities. Mr. Cloud and his colleagues at Amend have developed timely resources and provided direct assistance to state policymakers, corrections officials, public health leaders, advocates, and other stakeholders on a range of issues arising in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining Amend, Mr. Cloud was a senior program associate with the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City where he led multiple projects at the intersection of health and justice, which included leading a statewide assessment and policy reform agenda to address solitary confinement in Louisiana. Mr. Cloud is also a PhD candidate at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Robert Paterson is a medical doctor with 16 years of experience working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, of which 11 working in Healthcare in Detention (HCD). He has worked as an ICRC detention doctor (Afghanistan and Democratic Republic of the Congo), Health Coordinator (Philippines and Lebanon) and as a Regional Healthcare in Detention Specialist (from Geneva, and now from Tunis). In his current position he offers HCD operational support to 9 delegations (Maghreb; Sahel; Lake Chad) and thematic support globally (Malnutrition in Detention and Emergency Health Responses in Detention). Before joining the ICRC he completed 6 years of clinical hospital practice in internal medicine, a Master’s degree in Immunology, and an MBA with a focus on project management and an International Business Fellowship.

Andra Nicolescu is Senior Legal and Policy Advisor with the Association for the Prevention of Torture in Geneva. Formerly, Andra directed the work of the Anti-Torture Initiative at the American University Washington College of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. In this capacity, she supported the mandate of the former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Juan E. Méndez. In the past, Andra has held positions at INTERIGHTS, the Public International Law & Policy Group, the Delegation of the European Union in New Delhi, India, and local NGOs in Cameroon and Romania. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from McGill University, a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and a Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law.

moderated by: Emad Talisman

Emad Talisman holds an Honours degree in Psychology from Mount Saint Vincent University, and completed his Master degree in Experimental Forensic Psychology in 2016. During the later part of his Master’s program, he worked in the Research Branch at the Correctional Service of Canada as a student. In 2016, Mr. Talisman began his career in the public service and held various research and policy positions at Public Safety Canada, exclusively within the domain of corrections and crime prevention. In 2018, Mr. Talisman was hired as a Policy and Research Analyst for the Correctional Investigator of Canada.

This event is hosted via ZOOM - the link will go live at the start of the event and can be accessed through this event page.

Organizing partners: Prisoner Legal Services, Schulich School of Law - Dalhousie University, the John Howard Society of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.