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

By Nigel Maxwell

COVID-19 response

Inmates stage hunger strike, call for minister’s resignation over COVID-19 response

Jan 4, 2021 | 6:05 PM

An inmate at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert is adding her voice to the increasing list of inmates who are speaking out on what they are alleging is negligence on behalf of the government in response to COVID-19.

Carmen Napope Cardinal wrote a letter on behalf of all the inmates at the facility, and paNOW has obtained a copy of the letter through the advocacy group Beyond Prison Walls Canada. Cardinal claimed staff members are withholding requests lists and PPE equipment.

“They give us certain forms declaring we are not allowed the masks with writing on them which are easier to breath with. Only the nurses and guards are allowed them. With the masks we are wearing all day now we are getting rashes and pimples on our faces from wearing the same mask for hours in a day,” Cardinal wrote.

“It is inhumane how some of your staff treat these men and women” _{– Sherri Maier, Beyond Prison Walls}

In her letter Cardinal alleged when inmates request a mop, broom or other cleaning supplies, the correctional officers will just bring one item at a time or not respond at all until hours later.

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“We want to clean our units but it is hard when we have to deal with this kind of [expletive] and then the guards will blame us that the units are not clean,” she wrote.

Adding to Cardinal’s frustrations was when the inmates were allowed out on Jan. 2 she claimed it was the first time in two weeks they had been allowed to do so. Cardinal explained the unit she is in, unit two, is a dorm unit and is called the “forgotten unit of the orphanage.”

“This is the only unit that is given such a name. The guards even refer to our unit as this because they just leave us in here. They come check on us once in a while and that is it. That is when we ask them for stuff and they don’t even bring it,” Cardinal wrote.

The number of active cases of COVID-19 in correctional facilities as of Jan. 4. (Ministry of Corrections and Policing)

According to Sherri Maier, a prisoner advocate with the organization Beyond Prison Walls Canada, dozens of inmates in provincial jails across the province are on a hunger strike in response to the COVID-19 response.

The majority of the inmates (roughly 90) are at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre and there’s about 20 at Pine Grove. Inmates at the Regina Correctional Centre plan to start a protest tomorrow. For her part Maier has written a letter to Corrections Minister Christine Tell, advising her the inmates are refusing to eat until she resigns from her provincial cabinet position and to stop the alleged treatment.

“It is inhumane how some of your staff treat these men and women. You were once a psychiatric nurse, you of all people should know better as you have most likely had people who have been incarcerated in your care from time to time and know what those who are incarcerated deal with,” Maier wrote.

Maier informed Tell she has not only failed in her job to protect the inmates, but she has also failed to protect her own staff during a pandemic.

“You were negligent in the fact that the pandemic did not hit the Saskatchewan institutions until almost a year after it hit mainstream society. You had months to prepare for this virus entering into the institutions you watch over,” Maier wrote.

Response from Minister Tell

In an emailed statement, Minister Tell advised she was aware there was a tray refusal at both the Saskatoon Correctional Centre and Pine Grove Correctional Centre.

“Our focus continues to be the health and safety of the inmates and staff, which includes nutrition. Staff will continue to work with advocates and inmates to resolve this situation,” she said.

Tell then went to explain that there has been a number of steps taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the facilities, including mandatory masking; testing upon admission and as directed by public health authorities, quarantining new admissions for 14 days; and establishing temporary structures to provide flexibility in managing the correctional population.

“Corrections staff have also worked to ensure offenders are provided with regular communication regarding COVID-19 measures and precautions, and have taken additional steps to ensure inmates are able to remain in contact with their communities and family, such as allowing additional calls to friends and family, and free calls to Elders and chaplains,” she said.

Tell also explained there is a process for offender complaints that is detailed under PART VII of the Correctional Services Act.

“Alternatively, inmates may raise their concerns with the provincial Ombudsman. Corrections staff are dedicated to working with inmates to address their concerns, and we encourage them to work with staff towards the same goal,” she said.

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

on Twitter: @nigelmaxwell