Prisoners in Nova Scotia say they’re spending too much time in lockdown.
The East Coast Prison Justice Society has released a new report on conditions at provincial jails following talks with incarcerated men.
The society’s “visiting committee” first spoke with people in-person at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside in early 2020, but then had to switch to phone interviews due to the pandemic.
The society interviewed men as the Elizabeth Fry Society has a human rights monitoring program for those housed in the women’s unit.
The four adult provincial correctional facilities hold individuals who have been remanded pending trial or sentencing, serving a sentence of less than two years, as well as those who are held in some other form of detention such as people in federal custody making court appearances.
The problems prisoners identified were divided into the following four categories:
- Deprivations of liberty and related concerns
- Cleanliness and hygiene
- Communication issues (such as access to phone calls with lawyers and family, as well as access to visits)
- Other institutional concerns (including strip searching, racism, programming, and healthcare)
The report says the most common complaints were related to lockdowns as well as difficulty navigating and accessing healthcare.
Individuals told the committee they were frustrated with the limited amount of time they were allowed to leave their cell. Over the course of the year, some said they were locked down 80-90 percent of the time for weeks, if not months.
Those interviewed agreed that time outside of the cell was the most limited on weekends, reported as often less than two hours a day. They also said restrictions on their time out of their cells impacted their ability to shower regularly.
The superintendent of the facility confirmed staffing shortages contributed to the lockdowns and violent incidents in some cases had resulted in those shortages. He said administration was working on a new shift pattern for workers and had a plan to recruit and train new staff.
In its final recommendations, the committee says people in custody should be guaranteed enough time out of their cell each day to exercise, shower, make phone calls, and to socialize.
The committee also says sufficient staffing levels and an adequate scheduling system must be maintained to prevent lockdowns and the associated impacts on mental and physical health of inmates.
The goal of the report is to raise public awareness around the conditions at provincial jails, and to inform decision-making around the correctional system.
