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Advocate predicts problems for prisoners without STC

Jul 19, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Although both the provincial and federal governments said the recent dissolution of the provincial bussing system will not have a major impact on newly-released inmates, the head of a Saskatchewan prisoner advocacy group is still expecting the closure to create serious difficulties.

Province exploring alternative options

Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice spokesperson Jordan Jackle said inmates at provincially-operated jails (including Prince Albert and Pine Grove Correctional Centres) work with their case managers to develop a plan to get back to their home communities after their release. Inmates were previously handed an STC ticket upon their discharge from custody, Jackle said, and the ministry is now looking at different options to get released inmates home again.

“The Ministry is currently exploring other alternatives to that service, including regional carriers and Greyhound where available,” Jackle said in a statement.

Federal inmates not impacted

According to Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the STC shutdown has not caused any issues at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert and they don’t expect to encounter any problems.

“The closure of the STC has had very little impact on Saskatchewan Penitentiary,” CSC Spokesperson Kelly Dae Dash wrote in an email to paNOW.

Dash said CSC has an obligation to provide released inmates with transportation back to the place where they were arrested, or a community of equal distance from the institution, or another location within Canada with the approval from the institutional head. Many former inmates rely on family or community supports rather than public transportation. When an offender requires transportation, she said CSC uses the most economical means to get them home which may include taxis or an institutional shuttle driven by CSC staff.

So far, Dash said, the closure of STC has not caused any delays for inmates newly-released from the penitentiary.

Inmate advocacy group concerned

One advocate said the closure will have a negative impact on female inmates newly-released from provincial custody, despite assurances from the Ministry of Justice.

Sue Delanoy, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan, told paNOW she expects the closure will “harm women, and particularly marginalized women.”

“The institution is scrambling to find transportation for women,” Delanoy said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do in the short-term or the long-term, so it’s definitely going to be a problem.”

Delanoy said women who are newly-released from Saskatchewan jails often find themselves in incredibly risky situations because of their unstable circumstances, a problem which is compounded when an offender cannot return to their home. This, she said, means female offenders are often victimised themselves.

Although she is expecting the STC closure to create significant issues for released female inmates and noted hitchhiking has become much more common in Saskatchewan since May, Delanoy said she has not yet heard of specific cases where women were denied access to transportation or forced to hitchhike after their release from a Saskatchewan jail.

Advocates look to federal government for help

Delanoy contributed to an open letter sent to federal Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould and Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, which was signed by numerous women’s advocacy groups. In their letter the organizations said the STC closure is harmful because it denies an essential public service to rural and northern women, who are already vulnerable and marginalized.

“The possibility of another Highway of Tears in Saskatchewan is very real when women, without accessibility or choice, are forced to hitchhike because they have no other alternative,” the letter reads.

The groups recommended increased federal scrutiny of Saskatchewan public transportation to ensure legal and ethical accountability, and called on the federal government to intervene and ensure all Saskatchewan residents have equal access to public transportation “in the name of reconciliation, equality and human rights.”

 

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews