Pine Grove Correctional Centre. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Hunger Strike at Pine Grove

Others join Pine Grove inmate on eight-week hunger strike

Nov 4, 2022 | 4:02 PM

A prisoner at Pine Grove Correctional Centre is starting an eight-week hunger strike with prisoners at other facilities showing solidarity.

Sherri Maier, founder of Beyond Prison Walls Canada, says that at least one inmate at Pine Grove is being housed with another who is positive for tuberculosis.

“I’m told a woman on her unit has TB, is not in quarantine and others are not being tested,” Maier said.

Faith Eagle will be joined in the hunger strike— or tray refusal as the province called it— by other women in the prison.

A unit at the Regina Correctional Centre, a unit in Renous, and Sharise Sutherland-Kayseas are also fasting over the weekend as a show of support. Sutherland-Kayseas is housed at the Edmonton Institution for Women.

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Maier said she will fast as well and is awaiting word from other women’s prisons on whether inmates there will join as well.

On Monday, Eagle will start her eight weeks of her hunger strike.

“They all have no intentions to stop until things change and their demands met,” said Maier.

Both the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice and the Elizabeth Fry Society confirmed there are three inmates at Pine Grove refusing food.

A spokesperson for the Elizabeth Fry Society said the issues that prompted the hunger strike are not new.

“The women are reporting that often those who are Indigenous are treated with disrespect by the staff within the prison,” said Sydney Wouters.

The issue of racism has been an ongoing one for years, Wouters added.

“What they are fighting for is a mutual respect between the staff and those who are incarcerated, access to more culturally relevant programming and resources and they want better access to medical care,” said Wouters.

Inmates often wait for access to medical care, dental care, and mental health care, she added.

Wouters met with Eagle on October 14 when the hunger strike started.

Eagle has also met with a member of the Saskatoon Tribal Council and the cultural advisor at Pine Grove, both of whom are supporting her.

While the prisoners are not eating, they are taking some nourishment from liquids, said the Ministry of Justice.

“The participating inmates are accepting liquids such as water, coffee, juice, Gatorade, and Boost,” said the Ministry in an emailed statement.

Prison officials will be monitoring the situation and said that inmates who refuse food are given continuous medical supervision and have regular doctor checkups.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com