Group marks Prisoners’ Justice Day near jail
Disproportionate number of Indigenous people in system, participants say
In recognition of Prisoners’ Justice Day, a rally was held at a Regina correctional centre Thursday to remember those who have experienced abuse and have died from murder, suicide or neglect while in prison.
Organized by the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism, a group of approximately 20 people marched peacefully from the Highway 46 access to the Regina Provincial Correctional Centre up to its main gate.
They were guided by the powerful pounding of a drum circle set up in the grass across from the centre’s entrance. According to some of the participants, inmates at the RPCC knew the rally was going to take place and were looking forward to hearing the drumming.
“I want them to know that they’re not forgotten people. And hopefully they hear our songs and our prayers and … someday they’ll come home to their families, their wife and kids,” said Lillien Piapot, who led a prayer at the rally.
Many of those in attendance were Indigenous and spoke about the disproportionate number of Indigenous people in the prison system and the violence they face when inside.
Piapot has family members in RPCC who she says grew up in the system due to intergenerational trauma that began when her grandmother attended a residential school.
“It’s very hard to show love because we weren’t allowed to show that emotion. Growing up with 200 strikes against you, this is where it ends up,” said Piapot.
Chris Kortright with the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism said the rally was intended to show solidarity with the people inside and bring awareness to a flawed system. When it comes to Indigenous people behind bars, he said the system is just another way to put them down.
“The prisons now are just the newest form of clearing the plains or clearing the continent of Indigenous populations. First we had straight-up genocide, then we had the residential schools and the Sixties Scoop and now we have prisons.”
He would like to see the prison system abolished — instead focusing on addressing the root causes of crime like racism, poverty, marginalization and more.
“If we can actually address those questions it would drop the prison population immensely,” said Kortright.
He says deaths in prison are caused by the prison system itself and believes alternatives like restorative justice, where an emphasis is placed on the rehabilitation of offenders, needs to be pursued.
Noel Busse, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson, said in an email statement that correctional services are bound by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, federal and provincial legislation and regulations and Canada’s legal system.
The statement read that individuals receive a sentence for an offence as ruled by the courts and “are not sent to custodial settings for additional punishment.” He said over the years the courts have worked to clarify the law and reinforce “concepts of rights and freedoms of offenders, least restrictive measures, no cruel or unusual punishment, and duty to act fairly.”
Busse said those ideas are not only entrenched in provincial legislation and regulations, but in institutional and community operations policies as well.