Law360 Canada ( May 26, 2021, 6:25 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the defendant, Ontario, from a summary judgment in a class proceeding related to the administrative segregation of inmates in correctional institutions. The administrative segregation system in Ontario contemplated solitary confinement where, in the opinion of the superintendent, an inmate needed protection or segregation was required to protect institutional security or other inmates, or in cases of serious misconduct or at the request of the inmate. The representative plaintiff was held in remand for over two years awaiting trial on charges in connection with a bank robbery. He suffered from serious mental illness. He was placed in administrative segregation on two occasions due to refusal to take mental health medication. The class action sought declaratory relief and damages based on negligence and infringement of class members’ Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) rights. Class members included inmates with serious mental illness, and inmates left in segregation for 15 or more days between 2015 and 2018. The motion judge found that Ontario owed a duty of care to class members, breached that duty of care, and that the administrative segregation system breached class members’ ss. 7 and 12 Charter rights. The judge awarded aggregate Charter damages against Ontario totalling $30 million. Ontario appealed....