A 20-year-old was arrested on drug trafficking charges, but in court he argued he should be released on bail because coronavirus had made Ontario prisons too dangerous.
The court agreed. “The practical reality is that the ability to practice social distancing and self-isolation is limited, if not impossible, in an institution where inmates do not have single cells,” the judge ruled.
In Canadian courts, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a new line of argument for accused criminals seeking to be released from custody to await their trials.
Over the past two weeks, a handful of cases have dealt with requests by those charged with sometimes serious offences, making the case they should not be detained because of the heightened risk to prison