Jail conditions for Canadian aboriginals a 'disgrace'

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CBC News:
Jail conditions for Canadian aboriginals a 'disgrace': ombudsman
Last Updated: Monday, October 16, 2006 | 8:38 PM ET

Aboriginal offenders are routinely discriminated against by the corrections system and are far less likely to get parole or be rehabilitated by their experiences in jail, the ombudsman for federal prisons says.

Releasing his annual report into conditions in federal prisons, correctional investigator Howard Sapers said the challenges faced by aboriginal people in Canadian jails amounts to "a national disgrace".

Correctional investigator Howard Sapers discusses his annual report at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.
Correctional investigator Howard Sapers discusses his annual report at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

"Despite years of task force reports, internal reviews, national strategies, partnership agreements and action plans, there has been no measurable improvements in the conditions for aboriginal offenders during the last 20 years," said Sapers at a news conference in Ottawa.

He said the overall incarceration rate for aboriginal Canadians was nine times higher than for the population at large and the situation was even worse for aboriginal women.

One in three inmates in federally-run women's prisons were aboriginal, he said, with almost half of them in maximum security institutions.

Aboriginals often sent to maximum security prison
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He said there was "routine overclassification" of native prisoners, who were far more likely to be sent to maximum security prison than offenders from other backgrounds.

"That means they [aboriginal offenders] often serve their sentences away from family, community, their friends and elders," Sapers said, "They are sent into segregation more often … severely limiting access to rehabilitative programs and services that are intended to prepare them for their release."

Parole is routinely denied or revoked, often on technical grounds, he said.

Sapers called on the federal government to address the situation urgently with new programs, more resources and consultations with aboriginal leaders and communities.

Angus Toulouse, of the Ontario Regional Council of the Assembly of First Nations, said poverty, inadequate educational and employment opportunities, alcoholism and domestic abuse were among the reasons for overrepresentation.

"Where disadvantaged socio-economic factors lead to overrepresentation of First Nations peoples in the criminal justice system, this is systemic discrimination," said Toulouse.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has said he will consider the findings of Sapers's report but there is no evidence of systemic discrimination against native offenders in the prison system.

The president of the Native Women's Association of Canada said the alarming rise in the number of aboriginal women who are incarcerated affects all Canadians.

"If this was the case for non-aboriginal people, I'm almost certain that Canadians would react and demand that something be done," said Beverly Jacobs.

while this is a terrible thing i just gotta say i still love your avatar and it makes me giggle

Hey!!! It's supposed to strike fear into your heart - not make you giggle! Wowser!

i know that but its made me giggle ever since i first saw it on your website..

makes it even better knowing that its actually you :lol:

Do I giggle at your wings???

No, I take them very seriously, very.

Do you have a site or a blog?

I have a blog here... haven't written in it in a few weeks though...

Canadian aboriginals who require jailing are the real disgrace. :idea:

Where all Canadian criminals end up in the same jails I fail to see why I should have any particular sympathies for Natives who end up in jail. The conditions are the same for all inmates.

Seems to me that a pretty simple, cost effective and equitable fix would be for natives to QUIT BREAKING THE FUCKING LAWS, and then they could quit bitching about how 'poorly' they are treated in prison!!!

I've worked in holding cells for a couple of years and my father was a guard and assistant superintendent(warden) for years. In my own limited experiences aboriginal inmates get the same treatment that other ethnic groups do. It seems that there are proportionately more aboriginals in prison because they commit proportionately more crimes than any other segment of society. During my time there, I never once saw a white person(do Newfies count?), black person or RAA(Recent Asian Arrival) in cells.........mind you, the detacmment was located in a northern fly in community, which.... could ....possibly...account for the lack of ethnic diversity.

Ya think? Is it the natives breaking the law or the law breaking the natives the elephant in the room here?
I am sick to death of all the extras that are dished out to the natives in Canada. We treat them like the US treats blacks with the same results. I'm glad there will be an end to the treaties at some point and that will aid in getting this under control but this is a social epidemic and throwing money at it will not work.
As this article points out a simplistic symptom it will inevitably evoke a simplistic response (Don't break the law) but that recommendation is worthless if the situation is systemic.

When I was going to the U of M, I took a sociology course - The Criminal Justice System.....GPA booster and I thought it would be interesting. I lasted through half the first real class. All I heard was how the Canadian Justice System and Canadian society suffered from endemic racism, from the moment I sat down. The criminals were just as much a victim as the people they were victimizing. Guess the ethnicity of the individual voicing this sentiment and guess where they had just gotten released from.