‘It just doesn’t feel right’: province expands Women’s Correctional Centre beadwork program, cuts sales of finished items By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, May. 8, 2023

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Indigenous inmates at the Women’s Correctional Centre seeking to connect with their culture will no longer be able earn money by selling handcrafted earrings and other beadwork items made in their jail cells.

Manitoba Corrections officials are turning what had been an ad hoc craft by some women into a new official program for all Headingley inmates, managed by the facility itself.

However, while the inmates could previously mail the beadwork out at anytime to be sold via a third party, a provincial government spokesperson confirmed Monday that will no longer be allowed.

Such beadwork will only be allowed to be mailed out “at designated times such as Mother’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, etc.”

“The long hours I was in my room, beading kept me sane. Beading became a way to connect with my culture, along with the healing that comes with it.”–Brittany Ludlow

Brittany Ludlow, a mother of two, said she began beading — and selling her creations — while serving a sentence in 2021.

Since her release, Ludlow has continued to create and sell earrings fashioned after butterfly wings and red dresses (in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls).

“It’s definitely something I don’t think they should have taken away,” Ludlow said Monday. “The long hours I was in my room, beading kept me sane. Beading became a way to connect with my culture, along with the healing that comes with it.”

By being able to earn some small amount of money, the incarcerated women are able to buy items such as hygiene products and clothing when they are released or items at the jail’s canteen while serving their sentence, she said.

“I was able to buy my sons Christmas presents in a situation that would have proved difficult to accomplish,” Ludlow said.

“The women in WCC purchase their beading supplies and they spend countless hours creating these beautiful pieces… It’s an opportunity to grow and to establish a foundation for themselves when they leave.”

NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine, who brought up the issue at the Manitoba legislature Monday, said beading symbolizes many issues for Indigenous women.

“Beading is an act of resistance to colonization,” Fontaine said. “Beading is medicine to our women. It offers healing and empowerment and pride. Beading is connection to those matriarchs who came before us.”

The women involved were able to take the money they received from sales of their beadwork and transfer funds to family, pay for phone bundles so they could call family and friends or just have some money waiting for them when they were released from custody, the MLA said.

“You can’t tell women, ‘You better get yourself together and heal yourself to be better outside,’ and then take something like this away,” Fontaine said, wearing a set of beaded earrings created by an incarcerated woman who has since died.

“It gives them a sense of pride and healing… I cannot express how important this is.”

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen confirmed the move, but defended the new program.

“(It’s) to increase access to beading,” Goertzen said during question period. “We support the practice. The program is transitioning so that more of the inmates can participate in the program.

“The beads will still be the personal property of the inmates, so they can distribute it to those on special occasions.”

It was not immediately clear as to why the outside distribution of such crafts will be limited.

“Beading is an act of resistance to colonization. Beading is medicine to our women. It offers healing and empowerment and pride. Beading is connection to those matriarchs who came before us.”–NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine

“Manitoba Corrections takes the health, safety and well-being of all inmates in its care very seriously,” a provincial spokesperson said in an afternoon statement.

“(WCC) is transitioning to a new model and the beading craft will be continued in the facility in a way that will increase access for inmates, free of charge, while alleviating concerns associated with the previous program.”

The spokesperson did not respond to further questions on what concerns had been raised causing the change.

Sandra Burling, co-founder of Women Helping Women Beadwork, which assists in the sale of inmates’ beadwork pieces, said she is disappointed by the move.

“Sure, they can still bead, but they can’t sell them outside,” Burling said. “I guess (correction officials) will now be policing what goes into the envelopes they send outside. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Burling said her work was voluntary, including helping to co-ordinate sales, shipping items to buyers and getting the funds back to the incarcerated women.

“This change was a shock,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for four years. Nobody knows why it happened.”

Burling said there are, at most, about 40 women beading at WCC (which has a capacity of 196 inmates, according to the province’s webpage).

Some have had about $600 waiting for them when they were released, she said.

“One woman made a beautiful intricate dream catcher and made $800 on the one item, but that’s a lot of work. It was probably three weeks every day of beading,” Burling said.

“I would think the government would be happy. These women are in cells for 21 hours a day. Being in jail isn’t just serving time, it is rehabilitation.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca