The view from the new remand unit at Prince Albert Correctional Centre. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.
It is costing taxpayers an extra $10 million a year to house a growing inmate population in Saskatchewan jails.
Most of the inmates are on remand and many of them are in jail for relatively minor offences like breaking curfew or getting drunk. It is a situation that has justice officials looking at alternatives and an Aboriginal lobby group renewing its call for a major overhaul.
The Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan first began lobbying for major changes back in March.
President Kim Beaudin says about 80 per cent of the inmates are Aboriginal, many are poor, some can’t afford bail, and even those who are released are quickly being re-arrested because of breach of release conditions.
Beaudin says it is no surprise to him that the situation has got worse not better over the past year.
“This has been an ongoing trend and it gets worse every year,” she said. “And then what happens with people who are in there? They become hardened too because they are dealing with a lot of other people who are hardened, so it is not a good mixture.”
Beaudin says common sense is lacking. He says holding someone in custody should be reserved the most violent, dangerous offenders who are a real threat to others.
“Something short of being a serious crime, like murder or crimes against children. I mean, why are they there? It makes no sense to me and they should not be in there.” he said.
The issue came up in the legislature on Thursday, with Justice Minister Gordon Wyant saying he will be working with the courts and prosecutors to have fewer inmates on remand.
He admits, some remand inmates are not threats to public safety with many being held for violating release conditions.
There were 1871 inmates in Saskatchewan jails this year, up 160 from a year ago.