Build jail for Labrador women, ombudsman urges

Newfoundland and Labrador's justice minister is not ready to commit to a women's jail in Labrador after a new ombudsman's report said the system is failing Labrador women.

Citizens' Representative Barry Fleming, who released his report on Wednesday, said the current system— in which female inmates from Labrador are held in Clarenville, in eastern Newfoundland— is expensive and denies proper treatment.

A key issue, he found, is that women are often flown from the island for court appearances, even routine ones, in Labrador.

"The journeys taken by female prisoners coming from Labrador can almost be called epic," Fleming said.

Apart from being expensive, the process interrupts rehabilitation. The jail in Happy Valley-Goose Bay houses only men.

Fleming is recommending a small, separate facility in Labrador for women. Until then, he proposes a videoconferencing link between Clarenville and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Justice Minister Tom Osborne, though, said a new facility would serve a small population, but cabinet will consider the proposal all the same.

"We do have to look at the practicality of operating a facility that on an average basis may house two, one, maybe three individuals [at a time]," Osborne said.

"There are practical elements to doing that. We are prepared to consider the recommendation… and factor in travel costs for Labrador inmates, and a number of other issues as well."

Fleming recommends a facility that could house five inmates simultaneously.

He said it is important for female Labrador inmates— who overwhelmingly tend to be aboriginal— to receive appropriate services.

Constant travel, he said, has made it difficult for women to get into treatment programs for alcohol and drug addictions.

"It's hard to put in place a three-week or four-week program when the female prisoners are not going to be there or can't be there because they have to travel back and forth from Clarenville to Labrador for various court appearances," Fleming said.

Jan Dymond, who works with a community group that provides support to women with mental illness, is glad the report also calls for another secure room in the hospital to hold women who have mental problems.

"As I read through each of these recommendations, they're exactly— I mean nail bang on— to what I've heard people saying over and over again," she said.

The office of the citizens' representative— more often described as the ombudsman— took on the issue after revelations in 2006 that Carol Ikkusek, an Inuit woman who had threatened to harm herself, had been held without clothes for almost two days in an RCMP lockup.

The RCMP later apologized for the incident.