Putting women in 'unsafe, understaffed' HMP unacceptable, says womens' group

Shipping women inmates from an overcrowded prison to Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's is not a solution to the underlying problems that are putting more women in jail, says a group that works with inmates.

"What people need is access to mental health treatment," said Heather Jarvis, who works with the Safe Harbour Outreach Program, or S.H.O.P.

"What people need is much more available and accessible addictions treatment and so what we are seeing is that people are being criminalized and put in jail because of root causes like poverty."

Overcrowding at Her Majesty's Penitentiary

8 years ago

Duration 1:20

Heather Jarvis of the Safe Harbour Outreach Program says that it's unacceptable to transfer women from Clarenville to HMP.

Jarvis said the Correctional Centre For Women​ in Clarenville frequently houses more than the 26 inmates it was designed to hold.

"People can be double bunked, triple bunked, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Tensions get high. Conflicts happen," she said.

'This is not a solution."- Heather Jarvis

Last March overcrowding forced the prison to move inmates to St. John's. Now it's happening again.

• Moving female inmates to HMP 'the only option,' Andrew Parsons says

• Moving female inmates to HMP makes 'no sense at all,' says women's council

"We are saying that the solution to overcrowding is to put women into a mens' prison that is already understaffed, unsafe, and in dire need of renovations. This is not a solution," said Jarvis.

Bigger prison?

On Tuesday, Justice and Public Safety Minister Andrew Parsons agreed a long-term solution to overcrowding is needed. He said that solution must include building a new, bigger prison in St. John's. But he also said the root causes of why people end up in prison must be addressed.

• Overcrowding in Clarenville not an isolated problem, needs solution, says justice minister

Jarvis said she's heard politicians say that before, adding the first step should be to find out what women in prison need.

"Work on addressing housing, treatment options, mental health services ... I think that that will have the greatest impact. Making more space for more people to be incarcerated is not going to address our over-criminalization problem," she said.

"Channel those women into supports and services that will bring down the overcrowding issue. We might be able to divert people to probation officers for check-ins rather than long stints of incarceration."