Manitoba Solitary Confinement Settlement — Up to $100,000 CAD

Government · Canada · Claims Open

Current Status

Claims are open. The claims period opened August 24, 2026 and closes August 24, 2027; the notice says claim forms must be submitted before August 24, 2027 and gives no time of day or time zone. The Manitoba Court of King’s Bench approved the settlement on June 4, 2026. The administrator says payments will be issued only after all claims are processed and approved, and that none are expected before fall 2027.

What Changed Recently?

The claims period opened on August 24, 2026, following the court’s June 4, 2026 approval of a settlement in Gamblin et al. v. Manitoba, a class action filed in 2021 and certified in May 2022. Class counsel started a second case on May 2, 2024 covering the same groups for placements after May 4, 2022, and the settlement classes run through June 4, 2026. The parties settled after a two-stage common-issues trial had been scheduled; the trial dates were adjourned in November 2025.

The lawsuit alleges that Manitoba improperly subjected inmates to segregation and that this amounted to breaches of fiduciary duty, systemic negligence and breaches of inmates’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Manitoba denies these claims and denies liability, but chose to resolve the case without a trial.

One deadline is still running besides the claim deadline: class members placed in segregation between February 28, 2026 and June 4, 2026 can opt out of the settlement for those placements by October 8, 2026.

Who Qualifies?

Every class member must have been alive as of September 12, 2016 and held in one of Manitoba’s provincial custodial facilities. There are three classes:

• Youth Inmates: placed in preventive segregation while under 18, between September 12, 2006 and June 4, 2026. To receive an award, the placement must have lasted at least 6 hours.
• Inmates with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI): placed in disciplinary or preventive segregation between September 12, 2012 and June 4, 2026, having been diagnosed by a medical doctor with a listed DSM disorder (including schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, major depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder and neurocognitive disorders), with significant impairment of a defined kind that was reported to Manitoba before or during the segregation. To receive an award, the placement must have lasted at least 22 hours and records must show Manitoba knew or ought to have known of the illness.
• Prolonged Inmates: placed in solitary confinement for 15 or more consecutive days between September 12, 2012 and June 4, 2026.

Segregation generally covers placements within the definition in Manitoba’s Correctional Services Regulation, which class counsel says includes quiet room placements, observation, confinement and isolation, and transitional confinement. People who opted out earlier, or who settled similar claims with Manitoba and signed a release, are not eligible.

Some older placements are presumed to be statute-barred. That applies when a person’s only adult placements ended before September 12, 2016 and they did not have a serious mental illness, or when the person turned 18 on or before September 12, 2012 and their youth placements ended before that date. Those placements count only through the Statute-Barred Claims Process, which requires medical, legal or institutional evidence of a recognized disability, such as residence in a psychiatric facility, certification under The Mental Health Act, a finding of unfitness to stand trial or a declaration of incapacity.

How Much Can Class Members Receive?

The settlement is worth up to $129 million CAD. Court-approved legal fees, disbursements, the honorarium, administration expenses and taxes come out of it. Each eligible claimant can receive a Base Payment, and some also receive a Serious Harms Award: