The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.   2Cor 4:4

     Like so many Canadians I am sickened to read the story of Adam Capay. Four years ago, while in custody, he was charged with the murder of another inmate. This 23-year-old indigenous man has spent four years in solitary confinement (a descriptor rebranded by the correctional authorities in the Orwellian term “administrative segregation”) awaiting trial.  A legally innocent man! Four years! With the lights on 24-7! This story came to light only because an appalled guard notified Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Renu Mandhane who subsequently visited Capay and whose report to the ministry became public.

     But, it gets worse. According to press reports, the former Ontario Minister of Corrections Yasir Naqvi (who is now Attorney-General) met in early 2016 with Capay and was told by a guard that the man had been in solitary for almost 4 years. When asked about this recently, Naqvi’s response was that he did not remember. He did not remember about a person who has been held in solitary for four years without trial!

    But it gets even worse. When the current minister, David Orazietti, was questioned in the Ontario legislature over Ms Mandhane’s finding, his reply was, “I cannot commit to releasing any individual from segregation. That is not a decision that politicians are making. That is a decision made by people operating our jails.”  This from the minister who is at the apex of the structure!

    And yet worse. It seems that an assistant deputy minister of corrections is regularly informed in writing about the number of prisoners kept in solitary confinement for more than 30 consecutive days. Indeed, according to data released by Ms Mandhane’s office, between October and December 2015, 1,383 Ontario prisoners had been kept in solitary for more than 15 days. According to the Globe and Mail, high-ranking government officials, including the minister, knew about Capay’s plight for at least nine months but did nothing about it.

    Oh…by the way, the United Nations has determined that more than 15 days in solitary confinement constitutes torture. And Canada is a signatory to this protocol. But, perhaps, “administrative segregation” is not “solitary confinement.” Orwell would no doubt be grimly smiling.

      Today (November 1, 2016) Ontario premier Wynne is reported finally to have admitted that this situation “is extremely disturbing” and “never should have happened.” One cannot help wondering if the storm of revulsion about Capay’s treatment is a factor in the premier’s disquietude.

    Sadly, what 18th century poet Robert Burns called “man’s inhumanity to man” has a long and ignominious history. If St. Paul were alive today I suspect that he would still write about how the god of this age has blinded people to the light of the Gospel. In his day, slavery and public brutality were the signs of at best indifference to, at worse enjoyment of others’ suffering; today it is less public but all the more insidious and occurs in prisons and nursing homes and other locales where one exercises power over another. As St. Paul reminds us, the light of the Gospel is Christ, the God-with-us, whose humanity is reflected in everyone without exception.

     That refusal to dehumanize others is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by believers today. One only has to look south to a land which claims the most religiosity in the developed world to see the sorry effects of vilification-gone-wild, poisoning public discourse and blinding people to charity, temperance and compassion, to one’s seeming foes. For, the reality is that it is not “us” and “them” as the god of this age would have it; there’s only us.