Special Handling Unit

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Canadian Prisons
Special Handling Unit
Location:	Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec
Status:	Operational
Classification:	Super Maximum
Capacity:	about 100
Opened:	1984
Closed:
Managed by:	Corrections Canada

The Special Handling Unit is Canada's highest-security super-maximum security prison. It is located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec. As of 2002, it was home to 90 prisoners. It is nicknamed The SHU (pronounced 'shoe').

Inmates are always handcuffed in the presence of officers. When escorting inmates, officers are unarmed to prevent inadvertently placing a weapon in the vicinity of the prisoner.

Inmates are supposed to progress through programs in the SHU before being transferred into the general population of other maximum security prisons; however, some inmates are considered to be too high-risk to ever be eligible for this.