Native inmates claim discrimination

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Two Native women being moved from the Edmonton Remand Centre to the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario are claiming their treatment is discriminatory and racially motivated.

Other federally sentenced white women in the province - those serving sentences longer than two years -- are being allowed to stay in Alberta in provincial institutions, said Helen (not her real name).

Prison officials have told Helen and fellow prisoner Kristy (not her real name) they cannot stay in Alberta in provincial institutions because they are high-profile, politically active prisoners with past records, Helen said.

Helen has been told her past behavior is "negative" because of her drug use, but she said she has never had a drug-related charge in jail. She has also been told she is dangerous.

"I'm more dangerous to myself than anyone else. I've never hit another inmate and I've never beaten anyone up."

Helen said she has a terminally ill mother and two children, four and 11 years old. If she is moved to Kingston, she won't be able to see them at all. She has been suicidal in the past and she's afraid if she's that far away from the support of friends and family, she may come back as a statistic.

"I spent eight months in Kingston and eight months was enough. That was the hardest eight months I've ever done in my life." She had one visitor during that time - the Elizabeth Fry society worker from Edmonton who was touring the prison.

"It's like you walk in the front door and you can feel death," said Kristy, who spent five-and-a-half years in Kingston, the only maximum-security institution for women in Canada. She was there when a number of Native women committed suicide, prompting the federal government to replace the aging penitentiary with regional prisons so women can serve their sentences close to their families.

"I couldn't talk to my family. During the five-and-a-half years I did there, I had no visitors."

Darlene Dickson, Director of Communications for the Alberta Solicitor General, said Helen and Kristy are not being discriminated against.

"They're treated as any other inmate in the centre. Placement for them is up to the Correctional Services of Canada," because they are federally sentenced prisoners.

Under an exchange of services agreement, the women can apply and meet certain criteria and the provincial government will work with them to place them in the province. The criteria includes getting a certain score on the offender classification report, under which all federal inmates are classified.

But prisoners are only evaluated once, when they are first sentenced, Helen said.

"In the past year, I have changed so dramatically that even the staff here have commented on it." She's tried to show that she's changed, but no one is paying attention, she said

Dickinson would not comment on either woman specifically, saying the files are confidential.

"Provincial and federal authorities are discussing placement for them," is all she would say.

In British Columbia and Saskatchewan, some women prisoners are sent to men's institutions to serve out their time, Helen said, and she doesn't understand why she and Kristy have to go all the way to Ontario.

Her lawyer Simon Renouf said a prisoner's treatment depends to some extent on whether they are male or female, adding there are three institutions for men in Alberta and none for women.

"It's significant that there's really different treatment for men and women in Alberta," Renouf said.