Efrat Arbel, a UBC law professor and prison law expert, spoke to the Globe and Mail after a sexual predator who was beaten by fellow inmates and a guard while waiting for his trial has had his 12-year sentence cut in half because his rights were violated.
Arbel said the case sets a key precedent.
“The tendency among sentencing judges is just to look at the numbers. This decision establishes an important precedent because it says that’s not enough,” she said. “The deep probe into the quality of confinement, to use the judge’s words, is an essential step forward. That’s something that critics and academics have been calling for for decades.”
