Correctional staff complaints to province detail concerns, confusion during pandemic

Confusion reigned at Saskatchewan's provincial correctional centres during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some say it compounded the spread of the virus.

Complaints by corrections officers, spanning over more than 100 pages and obtained by the CBC through Freedom of Information legislation, detail how they were constantly seeking guidance on protocols, and had concerns about transparency and how to keep themselves — and their families — safe. 

"From my perspective there is no working together occurring at all right now," wrote Regina Correctional Centre officer Scott Taylor on Dec. 30, 2020. 

Identifying himself as the chief steward at the Regina Correctional Centre (RCC), Taylor details frustration about leadership at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre getting daily updates on the pandemic while he was struggling to get any information in Regina. 

"I am confused and concerned why that is not happening at RCC? I had to wait 24 hours to get told to be patient. That's not management and union working together, and definitely isn't open communication with me as RCC Chief Steward." 

Other complaints detail staff concerns about bringing the virus back to their families and spouses, how the corrections ministry were going to cover time off due to isolation protocols and whether emergency housing would be provided if they had to isolate. 

The confusion continued for much of the pandemic, during which hundreds of people living and working inside the facilities became infected.

Concerns about contradicting protocols 

In another complaint, an officer asks the ministry how they could enforce some of the protocols they were being asked to follow. 

"How can we possibly tell inmates to social distance when they are forced to share a cell with another inmate?" wrote Melissa Leason. 

"The jail has done a really good job at quarantining inmates when they first enter the prison. We have done an excellent job checking on inmates who have possible symptoms. We have done an excellent job on educating inmates. I think this is taking it a step in the wrong direction."

Outbreaks at the Regina Correctional Centre have been ongoing for more than six months and new outbreaks continue to pop up elsewhere. The Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert, where there were recently no outbreaks, is now again under outbreak status.

Correctional officers were not alone in their concerns. Inmates across the province regularly submitted complaints and concerns to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety about lack of support, unsafe housing and inhumane conditions. 

While Corrections Minister Christine Tell would not meet with those calling for better conditions inside, including prison advocate Cory Cardinal, she told CBC the province plans to review the data from correctional facilities, and that she feels ministry officials and staff did everything humanly possible to keep those on the inside safe. 

'We didn't need to see this': NDP 

The Opposition NDP say the provincial government did not learn from outbreaks at the facilities early in the pandemic, and allowed more and more people to get sick as a result.

"We've really seen a failure of leadership at the top with this minister responsible for corrections when it comes to their handling of COVID-19 in jails," NDP justice critic and party deputy leader Nicole Sarauer. 

"We've seen it through the multiple outbreaks that have happened throughout the course of the past year."

Sarauer said the Opposition has heard stories from corrections officers who feel they've been put into unsafe situations without proper PPE and proper guidance. She said the complaints are indicative of what the NDP has been hearing "across the board."

"We didn't need to see this," she said. 

"We didn't need to see this many people get sick because of the minister's failings."

Representatives with the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union say some of their members ended up in the ICU with COVID-19 after catching the virus at work. Barry Nowoselsky, chair of the union's bargaining committee, said those cases could have been avoided. 

Union officials said many on the front line are feeling let down by their government after they were left out of priority status for vaccines despite guidance from health officials that said they should be included. 

Decision systems can be 'black boxes'

One expert says the ministry's analysis of data from the provincial jails will be critical in preparing the province for future outbreaks. 

Peter Phillips, a distinguished professor specializing in complex systems at the Johnson Shoyama graduate school of public policy in Saskatoon, examines how people make choices and decisions in public policy. 

Phillips said that while he's unable to comment specifically on what's been happening inside provincial jails during the pandemic, risk and uncertainty tends to create "odd decisions and odd choices around the world." He said these larger systems will do their best to respond when faced with a new risk, but sometimes get into what's known as "status-quo bias." 

"We have a set of procedures and we follow those quite routinely and with some rigour, and then along comes something that might not fit those rules," he said.

"If it's complicated, and it's uncertain, there's a tendency to revert back to the system we previously had."

Phillips said that when systems stand firm against a new threat expecting the same outcome, the result could be problematic.

"Unfortunately, when there's some new risk, sometimes we don't know what the outcomes will be, we get some unfortunate disasters and mistakes," he said.

He said status quo bias may be responsible for the ongoing and repeated outbreaks inside of the correctional centres, but it's difficult to say, as decision systems can sometimes operate like "black boxes." 

Phillips said that when a system responds to a new challenge, it's important to examine the system as a whole, as opposed to looking for a single issue or aspect. 

"It's not often possible from the outside, particularly when these are black box decision systems where we don't see people doing anything in real time, to judge them fairly or fully on what they did, or didn't do," he said.

He said it's possible that a thorough analysis of the system would conclude everything that could be done was, but stressed this is why analysis is critical, as many factors — from random chance to policy — can contribute.

"It's a two-edged sword. You don't just look where you made mistakes, you also look where you had success and say what were the conditions for success and what were the conditions for failure." 

Corrections Minister Tell has stressed that the review will help guide the province if there is ever another global pandemic. 

Sarauer said it's tragic that the final review will not include the voice of prisoner advocate Cory Cardinal, who had requested to meet with Minister Tell before he died on June 9 in Saskatoon shortly after being released.

"He was an incredibly passionate and articulate person who had a lot of very constructive, not overly ambitious, but very constructive ideas on how conditions can be improved in the jails and how future outbreaks of COVID-19 could be prevented as well," Sarauer said.

"So, for her to dismiss a request to hear him speak, and now to never get that chance, frankly, in my opinion, it's her loss."