An Ontario class action lawsuit has awarded a preliminary $20 million dollars to inmates who were held for long periods in solitary confinement.
The case began in 2017 and represents 9000 inmates who were placed in isolation from 2011 for more than 15 days at a time.
The judge in his ruling said inmates who are placed in segregation are cruelly and unusually treated once the placement is more than 15 days long.
The multimillion dollar award includes a $9million compensation for victims

Ontario will be restricting the use of cellphones in classrooms starting in November.
The government had originally announced the ban earlier in the year, saying it would be in effect for the start of the school year.
A spokeswoman for Education Minister Stephen Lecce says the delay is to give school boards time to implement the restriction.
The directive says students can only use personal mobile devices during instructional time if it is for educational purposes, for health or medical purposes, or for special needs.
Some schools already have similar policies, but the directive sets a provincial standard.
The Progressive Conservatives had proposed such a ban in their platform during last year’s election campaign.

A new report is urging the provincial and local governments in Ontario to do more to attract immigrants to regions other than the Greater Toronto Area.
The Conference Board of Canada says 77 per cent of newcomers to the province currently settle in the GTA, both providing an economic boon and putting pressure on local infrastructure and social supports.
In 2018 it says the area welcomed 106,000 immigrants, more than seven other Canadian provinces combined.
The board says the rest of the province could benefit from increased immigration and lays out five recommendations to help make it happen.
The report says the provincial government should refine the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, the channel through which immigrants and international students can apply for permanent residency.
Other recommendations include a provincial immigration strategy, efforts to encourage municipalities to market themselves as desirable destinations for immigrants, and public awareness and education on the issue.

The number of elementary students in Ontario who are meeting the provincial standard in math is declining.
Results of standardized tests from the last school year were released today by the Education Quality and Accountability Office.
For Grade 3 students, 58 per cent met the standard, which is five percentage points lower than three years ago.
Fewer than half of Grade 6 students _ 48 per cent _ met the standard, which is two percentage points lower than three years ago.
The EQAO says research has shown that for students in those grades, their basic math skills are stronger than their ability to apply those skills to a problem.
The agency also says that the Grade 9 results are relatively consistent, but there is a persistent gap between students in the applied and academic courses _ 44 per cent and 84 per cent of them met the standard, respectively.
Literacy results were also fairly consistent with the past several years, except for a decline in the number of Grade 3 students who met the provincial writing standard.