Headingley inmates sew masks for use in Manitoba jails

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This article was published 15/04/2020 (2003 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Inmates at Headingley Correctional Centre have been sewing 200 to 300 masks every day for the last couple of weeks to protect themselves and the entire provincial jail population from COVID-19.

“The intent is to supply these masks for all inmates to wear when out of their cell,” a provincial spokeswoman told the Free Press in an email.

As of Wednesday, 1,874 people were in custody at Manitoba jails. Each inmate is set to receive two cloth masks, which will be washed daily.

While health officials have said wearing a non-medical mask in public may protect others from contracting the virus, a prison health expert said more research is needed to determine the efficacy of universal masks within prisons and the wider community.

“It’s really important that it’s seen as an additional step that may be helpful, but actually we don’t know for sure,” said Dr. Claire Bodkin, vice-chairwoman of the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s prison health member interest group committee.

“It’s not a substitution for handwashing. It’s not a substitution for physical distancing. It’s not a substitution for testing.”

Manitoba Justice has advised inmates to heed hand hygiene and distancing recommendations, but Bodkin said is can be difficult to implement those practices in a facility where a large number of people live in such close quarters.

“There are some inherent risks in prisons and all congregate settings that you can never fully get rid of,” she said. “The safest thing to do would be, from a public health perspective, to get as many people out of detention as possible so they can self-isolate or physically distance in the community.”

Local criminal justice experts agree and see the masks as a band-aid solution to the health and safety risks faced by prisoners during the pandemic.

“It kind of obscures the bigger picture that advocates have been calling for the ministry to address around broader releases,” said Kevin Walby, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg.

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission has called for the early release of vulnerable inmates to reduce overcrowding in correctional facilities. Walby said the province should make immediate release plans for inmates who are serving short or intermittent sentences, those nearing the end of their sentences, and those awaiting trial. He said the potential punishment of contracting COVID-19 while incarcerated doesn’t fit the crime for offenders.

“This is a death sentence, so it’s a disproportionate kind of harm to face for something like a theft or fraud or drug dealing,” he said.

Walby said the outbreaks in prisons in the United States, which he describes as “a train wreck in slow motion,” should encourage local officials to act soon.

“As soon as you have COVID in any sort of site of confinement with people who have compromised immune systems, the numbers are going to spike,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to get people out of all of those kinds of spaces as much as possible.”

Researchers at the University of Ottawa have started tracking the number of COVID-19 cases involving prisoners and correctional staff across the country. So far the initiative, called Imprisoning the Pandemic in Canada, has identified 161 cases among inmates and prison staff across the country based on institution reporting and media coverage. There are currently no reported cases of the virus in Manitoba jails or at Stony Mountain Institution, Manitoba’s only federal prison.

Corrections officers and provincial jail staff have started receiving surgical and cloth masks to wear while on the job. The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union said the cloth masks are made by an offsite supplier and priority is given to staff who do intake work at jails such as the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

Michelle Gawronsky, president of the MGEU, said the union, which represents provincial corrections staff, is advocating for a faster rollout of personal protective equipment.

“I’m hearing that there seems to be a shortage of hand sanitizer, gloves and masks and we are advocating very strongly to get that out there,” Gawronsky said, adding some provincial facilities have started screening workers before each shift. “We are asking as well that that be done by a medical person, so that we know it’s being done properly.”

Bodkin said the health and safety of inmates and staff are equally important during the pandemic to limit the spread of the virus in and out of jails.

“We know that borders are really porous between prisons and communities,” she said. “As long as people are moving in and out of prisons and jails, that’s going to present a risk to the community.”

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca