Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, is right to say in his most recent report that the families of people who die in prisons should be informed promptly, whenever it's reasonably possible.
It must be devastating when relatives discover that a close family member or friend has not only died in custody, but that his (or less likely, her) body may have been cremated by the authorities before they have been consulted about funeral arrangements, or even learned of the inmate's death, or indeed learned of his whereabouts.
Sixty-five prisoners died in federal prisons in 2015-2016. Seven of the reports issued by the institutions were heavily blacked out, for one reason or another.
Sometimes, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to redact such reports as these, most strikingly if another inmate (or possibly a guard) is under criminal investigation for suspected homicide of the deceased family member. Often, Correctional Services Canada staff are not even allowed to say anything more to the families than that the death has occurred – with little or nothing said about whether the inmate died from illness or violence.
Reportedly, CSC often invokes privacy laws, but surely that is a perverse argument. If a person dies in prison from causes that are left in mystery from their next of kin or best friends, that does not amount to preserving privacy, but rather leaves the fate of the deceased almost literally shrouded, in deep obscurity.
Prison chaplains are quite often expected to deliver the sad news of the inmate's death, an invidious task, because the CSC staff don't tell the chaplains much, if anything, leaving an unfair suspicion that the chaplain may be in cahoots with the staff.
Mr. Sapers is advocating a forthright approach, with nine recommendations. One of them is that the CSC should set up a family liaison in each of its five regions. That sounds like eminent good sense. Most people – that is, people not in prison themselves – feel adrift in a world remote from their normal, law-abiding lives. Regional liaisons could and would begin to learn the ropes.
The essence of Mr. Sapers' nine proposals is to inform families as soon as possible. That seems almost directly opposite to the CSC's present practices. And rightly so.