Advocates for incarcerated people aren’t happy with the province’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I am not disagreeing with following public health advice, I need to be extremely clear about that,” said Martha Paynter, a registered nurse and founder of Women’s Wellness Within, a non-profit organization that provides support to pregnant and new parents at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Centre in Burnside and the Nova Institution for Women in Truro.
“I am simply saying, we need to think about our order of operations here, so why isn't our first order of operations getting people out of Burnside? . . . So now we are going to have a population that is extremely vulnerable and extremely scared, stuck in a very high-stress environment without the relief of even access to volunteers.”
No visitors, including inmates' lawyers, will be allowed into Nova Scotia jails amid COVID-19 concerns, the Justice Department recently announced. The move follows isolation orders from public health affecting most public institutions and businesses such as restaurants and bars.
During this time, inmates will be able to make extra phone calls, a news release Sunday said, without specifying how many. A previous news release said inmates would have two free phone calls a week.
Paynter. and other advocates contacted by The Chronicle Herald pointed out that at least half of Nova Scotia inmates - sometimes more - are those on remand waiting for trial. Many others are there only on the weekend as part of an intermittent sentence, Paynter. said.
“We could just let them stay in the community all seven days a week. We can ensure conditions on that but that could be the first place we start."
Changes in works
In comments made during a news conference on the latest COVID-19 developments Wednesday afternoon, Premier Stephen McNeil said moves were being made in that direction.
"To help further prevent COVID-19 from impacting inmates and staff at correctional facilities, 41 people who are serving intermittent sentences in the province's four adult correctional facilities will be released on temporary absence," the Justice Department said in a news release later Wednesday.
"An intermittent sentence is ordered by a court and allows a person to serve a sentence in small blocks of time - usually on weekends - instead of all at once. "The person serving the sentence continues to live at home and work in the community most of the time so they can work and fulfill family obligations. Under the Criminal Code, a judge can impose an intermittent sentence if the term of imprisonment is 90 days or less."
In an earlier interview, Sheila Wildeman, an associate professor of law who specializes in human rights and vice-chair of the East Coast Prison Justice Society, called for this kind of change.
“Yes, the highest priority should be placed on expediting bail hearings and revisiting orders remanding people to custody, which in many cases may simply not be warranted in the current circumstances,” she said.
“So they may have breached a condition of pretrial release, which might have been something like, you know, they had contact with a person they weren't supposed to have contact with or they used alcohol or other substances.”
Wildeman said Nova Scotia’s remand numbers are overwhelmingly high “and arguably far too high, so there has been until now an over-reliance on remanding people to custody in situations where they could be managed perfectly well in community.”
She argues that should be made possible across the enforcement and penal system to reduce the number of people who end up behind bars.
“Police get to decide, are they going to commit a person to lock up or are they going to release on recognizance? So it starts with the police decision and the police and exercising their discretion.”
Besides those on remand, Wildeman said temporary releases should be considered for non-violent, low-risk inmates, particularly those who are over 50 and/or have health conditions that make them more susceptible to the COVID-19 respiratory virus.
She fears the visitor ban will escalate into more extreme measures such as prison-wide lockdowns as the outbreak intensifies.
“In law, any restrictions on . . . liberty need to be evidence-based and they need to be the least intrusive in the circumstances.”
Human rights activist El Jones said the outbreak has highlighted the weaknesses in the justice system that she and other advocates have talked about for years, such as a lack of adequate health care and sanitation.
Phones in 'disgusting' condition
For instance, she said in her experience the telephones used for “non-contact” visits, during which a glass screen separates the inmates and visitors, are in “disgusting” condition.
“I don't think anybody thinks this is an easy situation, they manage a lot of people in …. an incredibly difficult space,” Jones said.
“That’s exactly why it’s urgent (that steps be taken). All it takes is you know, one person coming in, one one staff member that's picked it up and it's going to spread like wildfire."
In an email to The Chronicle Herald, a Justice Department spokeswoman said “the safety and security of inmates and our staff at the province’s correctional facilities – including mitigation of any contagious virus or disease - is always a priority,” said Barbara MacLean.
“Our correctional facilities Superintendents have always worked closely with an Infectious Control Practitioner from the Nova Scotia Health Authority to ensure we are taking precautions to mitigate the spread of any contagious virus or disease in correctional facilities.”
Additional sanitation and other COVID-19 measure are being taken in co-ordination with Nova Scotia public health, MacLean said.
“We have confirmed we have the supplies and processes in place to respond to the virus.”
Other COVID-19 responses in the legal system have seen pending jury trials cancelled and increased sanitation measures.
