Posted: Dec 22, 2020 11:03 AM CT | Last Updated: December 23, 2020
Rapid COVID-19 testing has been used at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert (pictured). The union representing staff at the nearby Prince Albert Correctional Centre wants the same testing done there.(Guy Quenneville/CBC)
The number of known active COVID-19 cases at the Prince Albert Correctional Centre jumped from Dec. 18 to Dec. 21.
The total went from 14 offenders and three staff to 20 inmates and four staff. The increase has the union that speaks for staff calling on the government to bring rapid testing kits into the jail, similar to the testing done at the nearby Saskatchewan Penitentiary in the same city.
There are active COVID-19 cases in the correctional centres in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert, with the virus confirmed in jails for men, women and youth.
The Saskatoon jail is the hardest hit. As of Dec. 18, there were 58 inmates and 19 staff with COVID-19, compared to nine inmates and three staff at the Prince Albert Correctional Centre.
Hackl said that ensuring safety is paramount. We ve looked at this carefully and determined that our primary care paramedics working at the correctional centre would be at no more risk than if they were working out of fire stations in a normal environment, he said.
Posted: Dec 18, 2020 12:12 PM CT | Last Updated: December 18, 2020
Finding out how many people in jail actually have COVID-19 is seen as critical to preventing the spread.(Evan Mitsui/CBC)
A assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan is warning that the province s policy on COVID-19 testing in jails is inviting a massive outbreak.
The Saskatoon jail is the only centre where mass testing of staff and inmates has taken place.
The province says it will only test people in other correctional centres who show COVID-19 symptoms. Mass testing events were conducted at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre in late November as part of the overall outbreak management response after symptomatic staff and offenders in the general population tested positive for COVID-19, Ministry of Corrections and Policing spokesperson Noel Busse wrote in an email.
As of Dec. 15, six offenders at the Regina jail were classified as positive with COVID-19. In Saskatoon, there were 86 staff and inmates positive. There are 23 positive cases at the Prince Albert Correctional Centre and three at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre.
Kilburn Hall, a youth facility in Saskatoon, has two inmates and one staff positive.
The union that speaks for correctional workers is frustrated by the lack of widespread testing at the jails, and the response from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.
On Dec. 11, Saskatchewan Government Employees Union (SGEU) sent a letter to the health authority asking that all inmates and staff in provincial correctional centres be allowed to volunteer for testing.