Edmonton Remand Centre inmates end hunger strike

All inmates at the Edmonton Remand Centre voluntarily took their evening meals Wednesday, seemingly bringing to an end a four-day-old hunger strike launched to protest time spent in cells.

“Ongoing communication between centre staff and the inmates has resulted in all inmates accepting their meals as of last evening,” Alberta Justice and Solicitor General spokesman Dan Laville wrote in a Thursday email. “We will continue to monitor any concerns inmates may have and discuss solutions as appropriate.”

Fifty-five inmates refused to eat their provided meals Sunday, reportedly because they wanted to spend less time in their cells and more time in the common areas of their units.

Earlier, Laville said inmates still had access to food from other sources, such as purchases from the jail’s canteen. Most inmates had resumed eating their meals as of Monday, while management discussed issues with 19 holdouts.

Alberta Justice said it was the first multi-inmate hunger strike at the new remand centre, which opened in 2013.

The strike came weeks after a Dec. 15 lockdown brought on by an unspecified number of “serious assaults” on correctional officers. Earlier this week, Alberta Justice said it was investigating complaints from inmates that correctional officers used excessive force.

The facility, the largest jail in Canada at the time of its construction, can house 1,952 inmates. It replaced the overcrowded, 33-yearold remand centre in downtown Edmonton.

Between 1989 and 2003, Postmedia reported on four multiinmate hunger strikes at the old remand centre.

The first happened in 1989 over access to hygiene products. An inmate at that time said around 60 per cent of the centre’s 560 prisoners at the centre planned to go on hunger strike because they were not paid enough to buy shampoo, soap and other daily essentials from the jail’s canteen. The province later promised to provide those items at no cost to inmates.

In 1995, inmates began refusing food to protest smaller meal portions after the jail switched food service providers. Food portions were a concern in another hunger strike launched in 2001.

Inmates launched another hunger strike in 2003 to protest reductions in the amount of time their cells were open.