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A group of distraught inmates looked at me, their faces full of confusion. What do we do now?
One of the nursing staff just announced to the room that someone on our unit at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre had COVID-19. This revelation further added to the tension, stress and fear on an already overcrowded unit.
I was admitted to the Saskatoon Correctional Centre mid-August. I first went through the overcrowded quarantine unit, where I slept for 14 days in a cell with another depressed inmate on a makeshift bed on the floor. There are six dorms large rooms filled with bunk beds about five feet apart. Thirty of us share three toilets and two sinks. The responsibility of cleaning fell on us, but the cleaning products were given out at the discretion of the guards.
SASKATOON Hunger strikes at provincial correctional facilities are entering their second day, as inmates continue their protest the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety s handling of COVID-19. According to the ministry, 48 inmates at Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre (SPCC) are refusing their meal trays while 15 are refusing at Pine Grove Provincial Correctional Centre in Prince Albert. However, a ministry representative says some of the inmates are still consuming items from the canteen. In November, 142 inmates and staff at SPCC were confirmed to have COVID-19. On Monday, the ministry said there were no longer any active cases among inmates and just one active case among staff.
Posted: Dec 20, 2020 10:15 AM CT | Last Updated: December 20, 2020
The province s only all-male federal prison in Prince Albert, Sask.(Guy Quenneville/CBC) Do you want to know something baby . I think I might have the f king COVID-19, Bronson Gordon says with a scared-sounding voice as it crackles on an audio recording. Gordon is an inmate inside the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert. All of us guys, we think we re going to f king die in here, he continues.
The audio was shared with CBC Saskatoon by Sherri Maier, an advocate for those inside the prison system with Beyond Prison Walls Canada and Gordon s loved one.
SASKATOON The province says it s only exploring the possibility of bringing in Saskatoon Fire Department firefighters and primary care paramedics to provide limited medical services at the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre due to the continuing COVID-19 outbreak at the facility. On Thursday afternoon, the City of Saskatoon sent a release to media which said the plan was already in motion. However, the Saskatchewan government sent out a release of its own later in the day saying the corrections ministry only had preliminary discussions about the plan. We understand that the City of Saskatoon recently issued a news release with some inaccurate information in it regarding members of the Saskatoon Fire Department providing support at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, the province said.
SASKATOON A newly released Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre (SPCC) inmate says he learned he had COVID-19 shortly after he was released. He believes he contracted the illness due to the handling of a still-active coronavirus outbreak that began at the facility in late November. “They play with our lives,” Kevin Crane said. “COVID is a sentence as well, might as well include that in our sentences.” As of Wednesday, 67 inmates and 18 staff members were infected with COVID-19 at SPCC, according to the province. Crane, 44, was sent to the jail in early September to serve a sentence. Shortly before he was released on Dec. 9, Crane said two inmates in his unit became infected with COVID-19.