In response to recent comments by Saskatchewan’s minister responsible for corrections and policing, Christine Tell, about overcrowding and violence in the province’s correctional centres, the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) has expressed disbelief at the provincial government’s reported unawareness of the problem.
In a press release dated Aug. 19, SGEU cited an Aug. 12 story in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, which reported that Tell had initiated an investigation into inhumane conditions in Sask. prisons. The union claimed in the release that the province’s jails were facing “crisis-level conditions” and urged the government to take immediate action on the problem rather than pleading ignorance.
“We have spoken out again and again about the dangerously overcrowded conditions in correctional centres,” said SGEU president Bob Bymoen, as quoted in the release. “Instead of taking action, the government has delayed the opening of facilities in Prince Albert and at Besnard Lake. They also cancelled an approved remand centre for Saskatoon, which has contributed to the severe overcrowding in all facilities.
“And the government is surprised that inmates are complaining,” added Bymoen.
Bonnie McRae, chair of SGEU’s legal inspection and regulatory, agreed that the investigation was long overdue. “The concerns raised are not new – they have been raised repeatedly,” she said in a press statement. “This investigation needs to be done quickly to address a situation that remains inhumane for inmates and unsafe for correctional workers and communities.”
Tell’s announcement was a response to a letter to the Star-Phoenix written by Saskatoon Correctional Centre (SCC) inmate Cory Cardinal – and signed by 15 other inmates as well as him – detailing the conditions of the prison. Cardinal claimed that the SCC was so overcrowded that prisoners often had to urinate in milk jugs, in Styrofoam cups or on the floor due to unavailable toilet facilities.
“Secure remand units are double-bunked, if not triple-bunked, causing tension and everyday fights over space, privacy, bathroom usage, phone usage and, of all things, shortage of food,” Cardinal wrote, according to a Star-Phoenix report from Aug. 8. “We have broken the law and are paying for it, but must we suffer this inhumane punishment in having to fight over basic necessities and food? Is this not a public health issue?”
SGEU had previously warned about prison overcrowding in July of last year, following a gang fight that had resulted in stabbing injuries at the SCC. Bymoen had said that overcrowding and lack of staff support would likely lead to a crisis in the province’s corrections system (COHSN, July 21, 2014).
“SGEU… has been warning the provincial government about conditions within Saskatchewan correctional facilities for years, repeatedly reporting that inmates are crammed into every available space – sleeping on the floors of classrooms, chapels and gymnasiums – and have limited access to washrooms and showers,” the union stated in the release.