Provincial jail inmates lack programs: Volunteer

By FIONA ISAACSON, Peterborough Examiner

 

John Crisp spends three hours every week inside the large concrete walls of the Central East Correctional Centre, a provincial jail.

 

He's not serving time, a lawyer or mental health worker, but a volunteer trying to be "human" with the male inmates. Crisp listens to their stories and tells them about the outside world. He calls them all "kids," regardless of their age.

 

For four years Crisp has met inmates on remand, in segregation and those serving sentences. He says he's seen enough to be able to call the system a revolving door.

 

When these "kids" are released from time spent on remand, especially, they're leaving without having access to programs that could help them.

 

"We're just warehousing them and letting them out and they're doing it again," said a frustrated Crisp.

 

"There are no programs. There's absolutely no programs. They can't even take mail order courses," he said about inmates held in segregation.

 

From April 2009 to June 2010, between 60% and 62% of prison-e rs at Central East were on remand.

 

The number of adults spending time in jail or prison on remand across the country has grown steadily over the last decade, according to a 2008 report from Statistics Canada. On any given day there are more adults awaiting trial or sentencing than adults serving a sentence.

 

For many inmates, that means that once they plead guilty or their case is resolved, they serve no more time and walk out the door.

 

That also means that during the time they spend in jail they aren't getting access to the types of programs they need, say several lawyers, mental health workers and other people familiar with the Lindsay jail. It's a problem in all provincial jails many said.

 

Ending up in jail is "one of the greatest crises you could be in, in you're life," says defence lawyer Wylita Clark.

 

The circumstances that brought someone to jail aren't going to go away and need to be dealt with, she said. There has to be common sense and compassion, she said.

 

"If you want the programs and you're not getting them, what has the time in jail done for you? In fact it probably makes you more bitter and turns you even further against society, which is the opposite of being rehabilitated."

 

From the bench at Toronto's Mental Health Court, Mr. Justice Richard Schneider sits not only as a former criminal defence lawyer, but also as a former clinical psychologist. He's written several books about mental health and the courts.

 

"Very few people wake up one day and decide 'I'm going to be a bad person,'" he told The Examiner in an interview.

 

Schneider says, from his own experiences, between 75% and 80% of people who end up in court have some sort of mental health issue "depending on how loosely it's defined," or some type of substance abuse issue.

 

People will break into cars and steal to fund a drug problem that's untreated, Schneider says.

 

"Many of these people aren't before the court because of a deliberate decision to commit a criminal act.

 

"There's something usually behind the scene."

 

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services says all inmates at Central East have access to health care, religious and spiritual care, fresh air, crisis intervention and education.

 

However, the rehabilitative, work and educational program opportunities are different for remanded and sentenced inmates, the ministry says.

 

Minister Jim Bradley, who was recently appointed, said one challenge is not knowing how long a remanded inmate will be in custody.

 

There are good programs available but it's easier for people who are sentenced to access them, the minister told The Examiner in a recent interview.

 

"The time they are there is really the key factor," Bradley said.

 

He said the ministry's Advisory Council on Adult Correctional Issues has raised the issue about remanded inmates being able to access programs, but not about the programs that are available.

 

But Bradley said he's willing to listen to ideas to improve the situation for inmates on remand, recognizing that there are difficulties to meet their needs.

 

"If we can make some difference in their lives at that time that's important so I certainly, as a new minister, am particularly interested in any of the ideas that people bring forward in that regard," he said.

 

"We have to provide effective programming for remanded inmates. It does have its challenges. Anybody that has some new ideas, I welcome those new ideas in our ministry."

 

Ministry spokesman Tony Brown also told The Examiner that the ministry has to allocate its resources carefully and "the focus is more on program provision for sentenced inmates where we know how long they will be with us and what programs will be the most beneficial."

 

In Ontario it costs $179.97 per day to house inmates. Programming costs are included in that number. A breakdown wasn't available from the ministry.

 

The ministry provided a list of programs, broken down into those available for remanded and sentenced inmates. The list included social work, psychology, addictions counselling and independent services offered by the John Howard Society and Elizabeth Fry Society.

 

The Examiner showed that list to a number of lawyers, social service workers and other people familiar with the Lindsay institution. They seemed surprised by how many ministry programs were listed for men in remand. (There isn't a similar concern for programs for women in the jail's 32-bed unit).

 

"I don't know anyone who's been able to get a program like (anger management and counselling) until they're serving a sentence," said Clark, who practices in Lindsay.

 

Even for people who are sentenced, often there's a three-month waiting list for programs, she said.

 

Clark acknowledged that not knowing how much time someone will spend in custody can make it difficult to set up a plan. But, she argues, people with serious addictions issues could still benefit from a rehabilitative program while waiting to be sentenced.

 

It's not a wasted effort, she said.

 

The Examiner wanted to inter-v iew a psychologist and the deputy director of programs at Central East about the jail's pro-g ra m s. They agreed, but the ministry denied the request.

 

Some people spend years in jail before being sentenced. Kidnapper Stanley Tippett, has been convicted but not sentenced because he's waiting for a long-term offender status hearing.

 

Convicted arsonist Jefferey Clapper walked out of jail the day he was sentenced after getting two years credit for time-served. Since then he's twice been charged with breaching his probation.

 

But there are also those individuals who commit smaller crimes. The people who repeatedly show up in jail for stealing what amounts to be a few items or dollars from cars or because they've breached their probation. They're put in jail for a few days or weeks and then, more often than not, they plead guilty and then they're back on the streets. Even some who have received jail time for drug crimes are well known at the Simcoe St. courthouse because they keep getting arrested.

 

When people get released, they have the "additional trauma of having been in custody," said Julie LeBlanc court support worker with the Canadian Mental Health Association.

 

"How often does somebody get out of jail and think 'How do I figure out how not to do this again?' It's a relief just to get out."

 

LeBlanc said, "absolutely there's a gap," in programs for people on remand.

 

"I work with the fellas that are in the remand population. They talk to me about what's available."

 

Defence lawyers will sometimes raise in court the issue of clients not getting access to programs in jail. Lawyers will also plead their client's mental health or addictions issues when arguing for sentencing.

 

Defence lawyer Denis Lowry once told a judge that he keeps a file on services Central East says it offers. It's "not quite as rosy a situation," as the jail would suggest, he said.

 

Lowry is careful not to be too critical of the jail when speaking one-on-one with The Examiner.

 

"I think CECC do the best with what they've got but they don't have enough," he said.

 

Fellow defence lawyer Dave McFadden said funding is the biggest roadblock to improving the situation.

 

But, "are the politicians going to stand up" and announce more funding to help people who break the law? McFadden said sarcastically.

 

Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal recently sat on a provincial committee that spent 20 months consulting with the public and service providers on mental health and addictions issues.

 

The Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions released its final report in August. It included four recommendations on how to improve the justice system such as "the core basket of mental health and addictions services should be available to the incarcerated population."

 

There are gaps "all over the place," including in services in provincial jails, Leal said. For decades mental health has been the "poor cousin" compared to funding for cancer, he told The Examiner.

 

It's time to break the cycle and follow someone who's been diagnosed with support and services for the rest of their lives, Leal said. Without proper treatment some end up on a "lifelong spiral of criminal activity and addiction problems," he said.

 

The courts used to recognize the difficulties of accessing programs for prisoners on remand. Up until Feb. 22, inmates were given two-for-one credit for time spent in pres-sentence custody.

 

This past April, in the lobby of Central East, Crisp -a polite, gentle man in his 60's -said at least 15% of the men he meets know they have a problem and want to fix it.

 

"You let them out and they'll be back," Crisp said.

 

"But there are a bunch of them that you can help.

 

"Don't keep that person and not try to let them better themselves in some way."

 

NOTES: The Ministry of Community and Correctional Services said in 2008, 61% of remanded inmates in Ontario spent less than 14 days in custody. No figures were made available for the Central East Correctional Centre but a ministry spokesman said he imagines those figures would be the same. . . . The 1,184-bed facility has 32 beds for women. . . . The jail's special needs unit, for people with mental health issues, closed two years ago.