An Ontario inmate in solitary confinement for four years, awaiting trial on a charge he killed a fellow prisoner, has been moved to a better cell without lights shining 24 hours a day.

The announcement from Correctional Services Minister David Orazietti followed criticisms that Adam Capay had been forgotten and was an example of how the jail system relies too much on segregation.

“He’s in a different cell and he does not have a cell mate. He’s in a standard cell,” Orazietti said of Capay, a 23-year-old aboriginal man in the Thunder Bay, Ont., jail.

“We understand that Mr. Capay would rather be in this cell than be moved to another location or another institution.”

As reported by the Star last week, Capay had been in a cell at the end of a windowless range. There was Plexiglas lining the outside of the bars, and a small hole through which he spoke to Renu Mandhane, Ontario’s chief human rights commissioner during a visit earlier this month.

Capay told Mandhane that he couldn’t distinguish night from day because of the lights shining constantly, and was having difficulty speaking because of the lack of human contact.

Orazietti said those conditions have now improved.

“There’s no Plexiglas. The lights can be dimmed. There’s access to a day room, showers, phone, TV as well,” he told reporters after opposition parties raised Capay’s case in the legislature.

“Obviously, we’re concerned about his safety and the safety of everyone else in the institution,” added Orazietti, who held a news conference last week saying Ontario is cutting in half the number of days an inmate can spend in segregation to 15 from 30.

New Democrat MPP Jennifer French (Oshawa) said the delay in Capay’s trial for first-degree murder is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Supreme Court of Canada has deemed a reasonable delay to be not more than 30 months. Adam Capay has waited twice that long.”

Attorney General Yasir Naqvi told MPPs that the case against Capay is proceeding.

“I have been advised that the Crown has and will continue to work to bring these charges to trial as quickly as possible,” Naqvi said.

“This is a very serious and challenging matter. I very much recognize that people have questions and concerns.”

Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington) said Ontario has a “terrible track record” of getting cases to trial or withdrawing charges in a timely matter, leaving people “languishing” in jail.

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An estimated 7 per cent of Ontario’s 8,000 jail inmates are held in segregation for safety or disciplinary reasons, and sometimes over medical concerns.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has found “alarming and systemic overuse of segregation,” with many inmates placed in solitary having mental health issues. Mandane called earlier this year for an end to segregation.