A Manitoba judge has approved what a class-action administrator says is a $129-million settlement agreement in a lawsuit that alleged the province’s use of segregation in provincial jails for adults and youth was negligent and breached Charter rights.

The agreement was approved Thursday in a Winnipeg courtroom, where Court of King’s Bench Justice Theodor Bock made the decision after hearing emotional comments from people affected by the practice. They included a 22-year-old man who was held in segregation after being incarcerated as a young teen.

“It will very much likely haunt me for the rest of my life,” he said, calling the segregation a “horribly traumatic” experience that “had a resounding effect.”