Government has no plans to replace ‘forbidding’ penitentiary
SA SKA TO 0 NT he federal government says it does not have plans to replace the “forbidding and antiquated” Saskatchewan Penitentiary, despite a call from a prisoners’ rights group for it to do so following a scorching report from the country’s prison watchdog.
Correctional investigator Ivan Zinger said in his annual report that the sprawling prison west of Prince Albert is “not conducive to modern and humane correctional practice,” leading the John Howard Society to suggest that replacing it would be a good idea.
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) disagrees. Anne Murayama, a spokeswoman for the federal department, confirmed in an emailed statement on Thursday that the government has no plans to build a new prison in Saskatchewan.
“While there are challenges in maintaining a building of its age and size along with ensuring necessary security features are in place, CSC is committed to meeting the standard living conditions for the offender population in a penitentiary,” Murayama said.
She dismissed concerns about the food served to prisoners, which Zinger identified as one of the primary causes of a six-hour riot in December 2016 in which one inmate, Jason Leonard Bird, was killed and multiple others injured.
“All meals served to inmates must meet appropriate nutrition standards, and each menu must be reviewed and approved by a registered dietitian,” Murayama said in the emailed statement.
“Furthermore, serving sizes are in accordance with Canada’s Food Guide. The regular meal plan is adequate for all federally sentenced offenders under our jurisdiction and is based on a menu that is standardized across the country.”
Zinger said in his report that followup visits to the prison by his staff, “incredibly, noted continuing issues with food at this facility.” He concluded that “the high number of complaints (and) continuing general unrest … suggests that problems of a systemic nature persist.”
Those conclusions led Greg Fleet, chief executive officer of the John Howard Society’s Saskatchewan branch, to suggest that the federal government should consider replacing the prison, as it did with the 178-year-old Kingston Penitentiary in 2013.
“There obviously needs to be a commitment from the federal government … to have an effective, just and humane correctional system that treats prisoners with the respect and dignity that they deserve,” Fleet told Postmedia News on Wednesday.
CSC has promised to respond soon to concerns about a lack of communication raised by the mother of a 37-year-old man who died from injuries sustained while he was in his cell at the prison on June 7, six months after the riot.
Lauren Laithwaite said Wednesday that CSC has kept her “in the dark” since her son Christopher Van Camp’s death and the decision to lay a second-degree murder charge against his cellmate, 28-year-old Tyler Vandewater.
“My focus is on why this happened,” she said.
“And I’m sure anybody that reads that report, including what they said about Sask. Pen., can realize this is not a place conducive to having anybody come out of there healthy.”