16 active COVID-19 cases linked to Sask. jails, youth correctional centres

Twelve staff members and four inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 in Saskatchewan jails and youth correctional facilities. 

"Staff are working with public health authorities to ensure contact tracing and testing is done, and that all necessary precautions are being taken to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 within provincial correctional facilities," said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Corrections in an email.

Inmate advocate Sherri Maier said growing numbers show precautionary measures taken to date aren't enough. 

"They were just not prepared for it," Maier said. "What I had said [before] is that when this pandemic comes into the jails, it's a recipe for disaster — and now it's a disaster."

Most of the cases are linked to Saskatoon Correction Centre (SCC), where eight staff members and three inmates have been found positive. 

Many SCC inmates are remanded to custody, meaning they haven't been convicted and are awaiting court dates.  Maier said one small positive is that inmates are being provided soap, but that the situation is bleak otherwise. She said her contacts on the inside have described overcrowded units where guys are "lying around coughing up green stuff." 

Some have told her people are afraid to alert others about symptoms because they're worried they'll be put into "the hole" — segregation.

The ministry spokesperson said "temporary contingency structures" have been put up in Regina and Saskatoon to help manage COVID-19, but they aren't operational yet. 

One Regina inmate has tested positive. The rest of the cases are staff members at the Regina and Prince Albert jails, as well as the Paul Dojack Youth Centre and Prince Albert Youth Residence. Maier said staff should follow stricter protocols because she believes that's how the virus is getting into the jails.

For months, Maier has been vocal about how COVID-19 could affect people in the system. Advocacy groups, like the John Howard Society, also said it was urgent for non-violent offenders or remanded inmates to be transitioned out of jail to reduce risks. 

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Maier said people sitting on remand or in jail for non-violent offences shouldn't remain in a space that she says is ill-equipped to manage a highly contagious respiratory virus.

She said the fear of what's to come is weighing heavily on the inmates.

"They're pissed off," Maier said. "They're frustrated. They're worried."

Maier said she doesn't believe meaningful action was taken to protect inmates. For example, inmates are only now going to receive masks, even though the province has said for months that people who can't physically distance should wear masks.

SCC inmate Corey Cardinal wrote to the province and the federal government on behalf of the inmates earlier this month. He described how distancing was impossible because they share bathrooms and sleep in bunk beds. Cardinal also said the population is at-risk because of high HIV rates and other health conditions.

He didn't get a response.

"It's not surprising, I mean, in a society like Saskatchewan," Maier said, noting she's been an inmate advocate for more than five years. "People just don't care."

Maier said whenever media organizations post stories that address inmates' COVID concerns, people make comments like "if they didn't want to get COVID-19, they shouldn't go to jail." 

"The government doesn't care. Society doesn't care." 

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