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.
SASKATOON The Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre is hoping to fill a void in affordable housing for men. Executive director Janet Carriere said the organization is applying for federal funding to build an eight-unit apartment complex. She said they’re still working out the details, but the housing will likely serve men coming out of addictions treatment and the federal corrections system. Carriere said when men come to them for help, staff can help them find necessities such as jobs or food, but there’s little available for affordable places to live. “We understand here that everyone can change and that by being supported and helped along the way that we can all find our full potential,” she said.