NDP Justice Critic Lois Moorcroft has called on the government to initiate an independent audit into the use of solitary confinement at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC) in the wake of a human rights complaint against the jail on behalf of an inmate.

The request was put forward in the legislature Tuesday afternoon. It occurred at almost exactly the same time as Michael Nehass stormed off camera after appearing remotely from jail in front of a Yukon Supreme Court judge.

He refused to come before the court from WCC in the future, demanding to be physically present for each appearance.

"We're not going to continue today, okay, Gower,” he said.

In January, Nehass was hauled naked in front of a camera from his cell in the segregation unit and held in place by guards in riot gear as a case management conference from court to correctional centre continued.

Both the NDP's audit request and the human rights complaint arose from Nehass's treatment at WCC.

Filed last week, the complaint states Nehass has spent the bulk of his 28 months behind bars in segregation and alleges inhumane treatment and discrimination based on race and mental disability, as well as other grounds.

While within the boundaries of territorial law, the prolonged periods of segregation justified in part by the inmate's apparent psychological instability clash directly with reports by international bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Council as well as academic studies that lay out the detrimental effects of isolated confinement.

Moorcroft touched on the issue during question period Tuesday.

"Mr. Speaker, this government has shown time and again that they have little concern for the mental health issues of those who are incarcerated at WCC.

"One individual's lawyer said her client spent 28 months in solitary confinement over his time at Whitehorse Correctional Centre. That is not occasional use, which the minister says is the case,” Moorcroft said.

"Mental health issues are worsened by the overuse of solitary confinement, and that in turn creates more difficult and dangerous situations for staff — thus it's a serious problem ...”

Justice Minister Mike Nixon responded: "It is very unfortunate that inmates with mental health issues occasionally need to be separately confined. If they can manage in the units, staff make every effort to keep them in that unit.

"However, when an inmate is delusional or refusing to take his or her medication — and we cannot force them to take their medication — or if they are at risk to harm themselves or are violent, there is little choice but to keep them away from the rest of the population,” Nixon said.

Moorcroft told the Star today that Nehass's situation "is a lot more than unfortunate; it's a human rights violation.”

The human rights complaint, filed by Nehass's father, Russell (who goes by Nacoth), targets WCC as well as the corrections branch and the Department of Justice.

It states that the inmate's "lengthy stay in segregation is the cause of his deteriorating mental health.”

Nehass was arrested in December 2011 on various charges, including assault with a weapon.

On June 5, 2013, as Nehass's step-mother was dying, he asked guards "to use the phone to speak to her on her death-bed, but this request was denied,” the complaint states.

Nehass "flipped out,” Nacoth said, and ripped the phone off the wall. Guards threw a smoke canister into his cell, prompting him to climb into a space in the ceiling.

Another canister was thrown into the ventilation system to get him down. He was then charged with trying to escape WCC.

Last Jan. 22, Nehass appeared naked on camera before Justice Leigh Gower. The judge did not ask him to be removed during the case management conference until 15 minutes had passed.

At one point, as he moved from the floor to the chair surrounded by armoured guards, Nehass said: "My fing a is ... here. Cover up my penis, man, cover up my penis, it'll be f**ing seen on camera.”

Nils Clarke, the executive director of legal aid who was in the courtroom at the time, told the Star "there was never full frontal nudity on the video screen.

"Nonetheless, I was concerned, certainly, when I saw that,” he said. "If he was so uncontrollable, then why wasn't that just telegraphed to the court to say that it

wasn't possible to make a video appearance?”

Linda Bonnefoy with the Yukon Human Rights Coalition said in an interview: "At no point did anybody in the courtroom comment on his nakedness except when he was screaming for a towel.”

Sheri Blaker, director of court services, spoke briefly to the Star on behalf of Justice Gower.

"With respect to Mr. Nehass, because the matters are ongoing before the courts, it wouldn't be proper for a judge to comment outside of that context,” she said.

Nehass has said that he has only been allowed out for fresh air four times during his supposed 28 months of segregation.

He said he was fed for months on only bologna cheese sandwiches, does not get regular showers, must wear shackles at all times when outside his cell and cannot see his family members when they have come to visit.

He also said that "that he was suffering from stress and that he was lashing out due to human rights abuses,” according to the complaint.

Last January, the Crown asked the court to order an assessment to determine Nehass's fitness to stand trial.

Bonnefoy is concerned that any latent psychological disorders – for which there is little documented evidence so far – stem from his prolonged stays in segregation, not the other way around.

"These mental health allegations are not grounded in the mental health assessment process. They are speculative and perceived, and any kind of outbursts that Michael's having are because of the isolation.”

Dan Cable, a spokesperson for the Justice department, spoke to the Star this week about the incident last January.

"I can confirm that he appeared naked before the judge,” Cable said.

He observed that most inmates never wind up in solitary.

"We have a policy that inmates are given adequate notice of their court appearances and are given ample opportunity to prepare themselves ... to ensure that they're presented in the best light possible.”

Cable said guards have a responsibility to behave respectfully. "The other part of that equation however, is the inmates, and they have to work on their side of the equation on their own...

"I can confirm that the correctional centre has never stripped an inmate and taken them to court,” he added.

Though he could not speak to individual inmates' prison files, Cable said that the longest period of time anyone has spent consecutively in the segregation unit was three months and 26 days — which occurred within the last year.

One inmate, though Cable was not able to say who, was in segregation for about seven months total since May 2013.

Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, a director with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said it is in the larger interest of any community to ensure practices — behind bars or in front of them — work toward social integration, or reintegration.

"We should be concerned about ourselves as society that we would treat people in this manner,” she said of prolonged segregation in general, and Nehass in

particular.

"There is a public interest in making sure that most people in prison will eventually come out ready to re-enter the community in a socially productive way.”

A regulation in the territorial Corrections Act stipulates that an inmate can be placed in segregation if a guard reasonably believes the prisoner "suffers from a mental illness.”

The five other grounds for solitary confinement have to do with self-harm or physical endangerment of the other inmates or staff.

A 2011 report from the special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment spoke to the issue of segregation in prison.

"Negative health effects can occur after only a few days in solitary confinement, and the health risks rise with each additional day spent in such conditions,”

according to the report.

It listed "psychotic disturbances” as well as anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perpetual distortions, paranoia and psychosis and self-harm as

possible repercussions.

"The adverse effects of solitary confinement are especially significant for persons with serious mental health problems which are usually characterized by

psychotic symptoms and/or significant functional impairments,” the report stated, citing a 2010 article from the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

The report concluded that for vulnerable groups like youth and people with possible mental illness, states should institute a prohibition on segregation.

Prolonged segregation — anything exceeding 15 days — should not be allowed.

After just seven days in solitary, the effects of segregation can become irreversible, the report stated.