OTTAWA—Mercy.

The federal government should consider it, Canada’s prisons watchdog says, as inmates across the country worry about how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out in their institutions.

Ivan Zinger, the ombudsman of federal prisons, told the Star on Sunday that the government should look at releasing offenders who pose a low risk to the community, in an effort to stave off a health crisis in penitentiaries.

“The government has some form of responsibility of avoiding preventable deaths,” Zinger said in an interview, noting that penitentiaries are “a known environment where infectious diseases tend to spread quickly.”

The federal government has the power of clemency — an exceptional power allowing Ottawa to release those guilty of federal crimes “where no other remedy exists in law to reduce severe negative effects of criminal sanctions.”

If COVID-19 hits federal penitentiaries, those “severe negative effects” could include death.

Speaking to reporters Sunday outside his Rideau Cottage residence, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair would soon announce measures to mitigate the risk to inmates.

“We are very concerned about the fact that our correctional institutions could be places where — are places where there could be greater vulnerability to COVID-19,” Trudeau said, adding that the central government has been working closely with the Correctional Service of Canada.

“This is something we are digging into very carefully because we need to make sure we’re keeping everyone safe in this country.”

Advocates continue to call for low-risk prisoners to be released from institutions, where sanitization products are in short supply and their ability to practise social distancing is limited. On Thursday, the Ontario government confirmed an inmate and a guard both tested positive for the virus at the Toronto South Detention Centre in Etobicoke.

With the exception of lawyers, Ontario banned personal visits to inmates in provincial facilities two weeks ago.

On Sunday, Ottawa’s message on COVID-19 was all about helping those most vulnerable during the pandemic. Trudeau’s government committed $7.5 million to the Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868) and acknowledged that the global health pandemic has put particular strain on Canada’s young people.

But advocates have been sounding the alarm for weeks that Canada’s prison population is among the most vulnerable during the pandemic.

“We’re side by side; our cells are right next to each other. You can’t escape anything in here,” Stuart Serson, who is nearing the end of a four-year sentence at the Pacific Institution in British Columbia, told Vice News.

Zinger — not known for holding back on criticism of the correctional system — applauded the steps taken by the Correctional Service of Canada so far in the pandemic.

In a statement to the Star, the service said it is focusing on community safety.

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“While being a full participant in the Canada-wide public health effort to fight COVID-19, CSC continues to fulfil its obligations with respect to the care and custody of inmates to prepare them for safe release into the community,” a spokesperson for the agency said on Friday.

“We are working closely with the Parole Board of Canada to examine all options with respect to the safe release of offenders into the community.”

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