Summary

The Correctional Services Amendment Act, 2026 changes how Saskatchewan provincial correctional facilities handle inmate segregation, discipline, and transfers. It replaces the previous system of discipline panels and segregation panels with disciplinary hearing officers, hearing adjudicators, and independent review adjudicators, limits administrative segregation to 15 consecutive days, and requires daily health assessments and independent review for inmates held in segregation.

This bill changes the rules for how inmates in Saskatchewan provincial correctional facilities are disciplined and placed in segregation. Administrative segregation, holding an inmate alone for 22 or more hours per day without meaningful social interaction, can now last no more than 15 consecutive days and must be reviewed by the head of corrections within 24 hours and by an independent review adjudicator if it continues. Inmates placed in segregation must receive written reasons within 12 hours and access to a lawyer, and a health care professional must assess them daily. The bill creates a two-tier discipline system for minor and major offences, with minor offences handled by disciplinary hearing officers appointed by the facility director and major offences handled by hearing adjudicators designated in regulation. Only minor offence decisions may be appealed; major offence decisions are final. The bill also allows temporary confinement for a prescribed number of hours when necessary for facility security or inmate safety, and moves most procedural details for transfers and discipline into regulations to be set by cabinet.