By C1 Staff
TORONTO — The ban on dirty movies inside Quebec prisons may soon be no more.
The Federal Court’s recent ruling that Correctional Services Canada is in violation of inmate’s Charter right to freedom of expression requires the CSC to now revisit inmates’ grievances about being blocked from viewing porn, according to the Toronto Sun.
The ban was instituted in 2012 by former public safety minister Vic Toews, who called it an “unacceptable practice” and said it violated the dignity and safety of female correctional officers.
But Justice Jocelyn Gagne found no link between porn and harassment of female officers; she also found no legality in Toew’s ban of porn when the inmates had legally paid for a cable package that just happened to include porn.
Inmate Haris Naraine complained in 2014 that he had lost access to the cable package he had paid for and that the Charter right to freedom of expression meant CSC couldn’t censor what they wanted to watch.
With Gange’s ruling, Naraine’s grievance must be reheard and the ban could be removed completely.
“Generally speaking, people go to prison as punishment, not for punishment,” said Naraine’s lawyer Todd Sloan. “People retain the same rights and privileges that they enjoyed in the community except those taken away for a tangible reason associated with safety and security.”
“This isn’t a case about pornography,” he insisted. “This is a case about the rule of law.”