Close X
Saturday, November 16, 2024
ADVT 
National

Nunavut prison still squalid, drug-ridden a year after watchdog's report

Steve Rennie, Canadian Press, 25 Aug, 2014 10:31 AM
    You won't see it on the itinerary for Stephen Harper's annual northern tour, and it's somewhere the prime minister would probably rather not be seen, anyway.
     
    But while Harper is in Iqaluit trumpeting his government's spending on science and technology, scant attention will be paid to one of the North's most notorious jails, just a short distance away.
     
    It's a place the federal Conservatives want no part of, one they are more than happy to leave in the hands of the territorial government, which is responsible for the jail, but seems reluctant to do much about its squalid state.
     
    The territory hasn't done a whole lot to deal with a list of serious problems that Canada's prisons watchdog identified more than a year ago.
     
    In fact, federal Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers hasn't heard from the Nunavut government since he submitted his report on the Baffin Correctional Centre in April 2013.
     
    "Once we gave them our report, of course we don't have jurisdiction and they have no particular obligation to reply," Sapers said in a recent interview.
     
    "That's why there weren't recommendations. We just simply gave them the observations that they asked for and it was then really a matter for the territorial government to deal with."
     
    Sapers' report, which quietly appeared on the Nunavut Justice Department website in the spring, listed a slew of serious problems at the jail.
     
    The place is rife with drugs and illegal contraband. Inmates live in constant fear of beatings and sexual assaults. It is so overcrowded that prisoners are kept in cells with up to four times the intended occupancy rate. Some cells have no toilets or running water. The prison is filthy, drafty and mouldy. The smell is overpowering.
     
    "When I first walked through, I was quite taken aback. I was taken aback at its state of disrepair, said Sapers.
     
    "The conditions of confinement were certainly well below anything I had seen in a federal penitentiary."
     
    Not just in Canada, either. Sapers puts the Baffin Correctional Centre on par with some of the worst jails he's seen around the world.
     
    "I have visited prisons across Canada and in several spots in the United States and in many places around the world, including China, (South) Korea, the Czech Republic, Singapore," he said.
     
    "The conditions in the Baffin Correctional Centre were certainly as bad as any I've seen anywhere."
     
    Neither Nunavut Justice Minister Paul Okalik nor his department have responded to questions about the jail.
     
    Ottawa has an agreement with Nunavut to hold federally sentenced offenders, under certain circumstances, in territorial jails.
     
    But the Conservatives aren't eager to be associated with the Baffin Correctional Centre.
     
    In a November 2012 response to questions on the Commons order paper from former Liberal MP Denis Coderre, then-public safety minister Vic Toews repeatedly said the jail belongs to Nunavut and isn't the federal government's responsibility.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math

    Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math
    A 39-year-old Canadian-born mathematician has won a prestigious award often described as the Nobel Prize in math.

    Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math

    B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach

    B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach
    VICTORIA - B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner plans to investigate whether the provincial government should have notified the public about potential risk connected to the Mount Polley tailings pond.

    B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach

    Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom

    Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom
    LISTER, B.C. - A wife of a polygamous leader of a small religious commune in B.C. says polygamy charges laid this week against the leaders of Bountiful violate her religious freedom.

    Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom

    Douglas Garland In Court: Family 'Shattered' By Disappearance Of Grandparents And Boy

    Douglas Garland In Court: Family 'Shattered' By Disappearance Of Grandparents And Boy
    CALGARY - A friend says relatives of a missing five-year-old boy and his grandparents are "shattered" weeks after the three disappeared and are presumed to have been murdered.

    Douglas Garland In Court: Family 'Shattered' By Disappearance Of Grandparents And Boy

    Fires Heat Up In Parts Of B.C. As Fire Costs Near Triple What Was Forecast

    Fires Heat Up In Parts Of B.C. As Fire Costs Near Triple What Was Forecast
    VANCOUVER - A fast-moving forest fire near Houston, B.C., that forced residents in 19 homes to evacuate had almost doubled in size within 24 hours.

    Fires Heat Up In Parts Of B.C. As Fire Costs Near Triple What Was Forecast

    Medical Marijuana Spread On Toast, Inside Cookies And Teas Backed By B.C. Court

    Medical Marijuana Spread On Toast, Inside Cookies And Teas Backed By B.C. Court
    VANCOUVER - The B.C. Appeal Court has ruled the federal government's restriction on allowing only dried marijuana to be used under its medical access regulations is unconstitutional.

    Medical Marijuana Spread On Toast, Inside Cookies And Teas Backed By B.C. Court