Omicron in Prisons: SPEAK UP AND TAKE ACTION or STEP DOWN!
Please sign the petition below:
Since the beginning of the pandemic, loved ones and supporters of those inside have been left in the dark without up-to-date public data on COVID-19 outbreaks within jails and prisons. There has been no transparency or follow-through from provincial and federal governments regarding the implementation of protocols that ensure the safe, humane, and dignified treatment of prisoners who are exposed to and diagnosed with COVID-19.
Prisoners are at greater risk of becoming severely sick right now, and it is because of our elected representatives’ lack of direction or interest in keeping all of us safe. Despite countless interventions by prisoners, their loved ones, public health officials and human rights groups, people are still being crammed into cells during a pandemic without access to personal protective equipment (PPE), healthcare, and adequate PCR testing.
Despite knowing about the severe health risks posed by COVID-19 for the last 24 months, we are still unclear about what correctional facilities are doing to prevent, treat, and eradicate COVID-19 inside. We know that these facilities have been locked down – often for 23 hours a day – with prisoners in solitary confinement-like conditions and denied access to showers, phones, programming and family visits.
It is deplorable that there is no reliable public information about COVID-19 testing and positive diagnoses in Ontario jails. This information is vital for the health of all Ontarians, especially Indigenous and Black communities who are targeted by police and overly represented in our carceral systems. Rather than implementing recommendations from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Ombudsman, and honouring the calls from prisoners, their loved ones, service providers and supporters for immediate access to PPE, vaccine information, and decarceration measures, the Ontario government has publicly ignored the crisis inside.
Prisoners in Ontario are subjected to inadequate healthcare services, overseen and implemented by the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Service Canada. Reports from inside deem this care inadequate, minimal and slow-moving in comparison to the healthcare provided to those on the outside by the Ministry of Health. We are gravely concerned about how the second-tier healthcare system inside prisons will be able to successfully and humanely respond to the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ontario government needs to immediately:
Reduce the number of people inside prisons and detention centres through rapid decarceration and non-custodial options (i.e. bail, conditional sentences, diversion programs etc.);
Ensure prisoners receive equitable access to healthcare by transferring the provision of health care in provincial jails to the Ministry of Health, and
Release all information regarding all COVID-19 and Omicron outbreaks in provincial jails including what steps are being taken by the Ontario government to curb the spread and protect the health of prisoners.
The Ontario government must also:
Ensure all prisoners have access to free soap, sanitizer, bleach and cleaning supplies;
Ensure that all prisoners are given Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including masks and gloves when they ask for it;
Ensure that all prisoners are educated on COVID-19 vaccinations and prevention, symptoms, and treatment of COVID-19;
Ensure that prison and jail staff are regularly tested, vaccinated, and using PPE;
Ensure that prisoners who have come in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 are tested and isolated in a humane way, in accordance with human rights standards and not in solitary confinement;
End the practice of lockdowns and segregation as a means to deal with understaffing or COVID-19 prevention and spread;
Ensure that prisoners have access to fresh air spaces with safe social distancing;
Ensure that prisoners have access to free and accessible telecommunication to speak with loved ones and care providers in the community, with restrictions on calls to cell phones and switchboards lifted immediately;
Ensure that prisoners are prepared with vaccination certificates, passports and/or negative COVID-19 tests before being released, so they will not be limited when accessing services in the community; and
Create procedures that will allow volunteer and community programming to resume inside.
Now is the time for action.The Ontario government’s response to the pandemic has failed to slow the spread and has endangered the lives, rights, mental health, and wellbeing of prisoners. Incarcerated people continue to face a disproportionate risk of contracting the virus due to unsanitary conditions, close living quarters, frequent physical contact, and underlying chronic health conditions. Further, the practice of transferring prisoners to different institutions across the province to control outbreaks increases the risk of prisoners contracting the virus and further isolates prisoners from community connections. As prisoners are forced to endure the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conditions inside are a stark reminder that the harms, violence, and death inherent in prisons must also be treated as a crisis.