The Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan is hoping to get a permanent contract with the provincial justice department to continue and expand its work with female inmates – most of whom are Aboriginal.
A new study out this week shows the number of Aboriginal women behind bars has doubled since 2002 and two-thirds of this number is doing time for violent offenses.
The Elizabeth Fry society does what it can to assist women behind bars and help them re-integrate into society when they are released.
Tanya Beauchamp is the prison liaison officer for the Elizabeth Fry Society and she says poverty, drug addiction and lack of support are just a few of the reasons why many Indigenous women end up in jail.
“We need more social community networks for our aboriginal women,” she says. “We need more preventative work done with them.”
The federal report on Aboriginal women behind bars found nearly two-thirds were serving time for violent crimes compared to one-third of non-Aboriginal women.
Beauchamp says there is a reason for this.
“When you are doing violent crime that comes from a point of despair and frustration, right. Frustrated with social networks, the ability to access service. Many of the women have tried to access service and for whatever reason have been denied.”
She says there needs to be a lot more funding in the areas of prevention and re-integration both on the provincial and federal level.