For the past two weeks, worst-case scenarios have played out in the minds of family members of prison inmates.

A husband with severe respiratory issues getting COVID-19 and no access to life-saving treatment. An indefinite “social isolation” that looks more like solitary confinement. Riots as fearful prisoners, fuelled by rumours and lack of information, panic or protest.

“We don’t have the death sentence in Canada,” said one woman, whose husband is serving a 10-year sentence and will be eligible for day parole at the end of the year.

“You have to think about human life. You can’t just think... they’ve done something bad so they don’t deserve to live,” she said.

Monday’s announcement that two inmates and nine staff in a maximum-security prison in a remote part of Quebec have tested positive for COVID-19 renewed calls from advocates for a compassionate, responsible approach that includes releasing some prisoners to free up space in prisons.

The Port-Cartier Institution, which has the capacity for 237 inmates, is “one of Canada’s most isolated penitentiaries,” said Justin Piché, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa. “Just think about the potential for transmission in penitentiaries located near medium-sized municipalities and large urban centres that staff members come in and out of every single day.”

Compared to the general population, the prison population has a disproportionately higher number of mental health issues, addictions and illnesses, including higher prevalence of diseases that compromise the immune system. Indigenous men and women are overrepresented, making up 30 per cent of the 15,000 people in federal prison but only five per cent of the general population.

“They’re a cross-section of the more marginalized and vulnerable members of our society,” said Howard Sapers, who conducted the Independent Review of Ontario Corrections and is a former federal Correctional Investigator.

Advocates have suggested releasing non-violent offenders and offenders nearing their statutory release dates — a move that could free up space in the institutions to allow for social distancing and less risk to the inmates who remain. Temporary absences, currently suspended, could be reintroduced for medical reasons.

“The federal government is dithering. They are playing with peoples’ lives and they need to take action immediately,” Piché said, noting that provinces have already taken steps to release low-risk offenders from jails. “You can tell who is really considered disposable in Canada right now.”

Some inmates could safely return home and others could go to halfway houses, which should also be working to move people into their homes to free up space, Piché said. The money saved from keeping those people in custody could be reallocated to allow for community supervision and housing supports, he said.

Like many who have family in provincial jails and prisons across the country, Dinny Dickson worries what will happen to staff and inmates —with many of the latter vulnerable to begin with — as the virus spreads.

Inmates, the retired social worker said, do not have the same access to health care as people in the community. She fears many will become “terribly sick, with poor care, and some of them are going to die.”

Her son Brian Dickson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014 in the 2011 killing of York University student Qian (Necole) Liu. He is serving his sentence in a British Columbia prison.

“It’s going to be like a dirty seniors’ home,” said Dickson. “What we are doing to people (in jails) is unconscionable.”

The potential for a crisis has been recognized by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said Sunday that the government is “very concerned about the fact that our correctional institutions could be places where — are places where there could be greater vulnerability to COVID-19.”

Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair has asked both the Commissioner of the CSC and the Chair of the Parole Board of Canada to determine whether there are measures that could be taken to facilitate early release for certain offenders, according to a statement from his office on Monday.

The CSC said Monday they are “currently conducting an analysis of the offender population to be in a position to make evidence-based recommendations.”

Meanwhile, the Parole Board of Canada continues to conduct hearings remotely, considering the health risk from COVID-19 as a factor. They did not say whether more hearings are being conducted and said the number of parole applications granted in the past two weeks is not currently available.

As of Saturday, tests had been conducted on 50 federal inmates with 45 returning negative and two positive, with three tests pending, CSC said. There are approximately 15,000 people in federal prisons across the country. Twelve CSC employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in isolation.

Cases have also begun to show up in the provincial jail system where the province has said some low-risk offenders nearing the end of their sentences are being released early. Between March 13 and March 25, 2020, the total inmate population in Ontario’s adult correctional system decreased by 1,286 from about 7,400, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

On Thursday the province confirmed positive tests for an inmate and a guard at the Toronto South Detention Centre.

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A youth services officer at the Roy McMurtry Youth Centre tested positive late last week for COVID-19 after returning home from travelling, an Ontario Public Service Employee Union (OPSEU) official confirmed Monday. The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services employee is at home in isolation and expected to make a full recovery.

Peter Harding, who sits on the Ministry Employee Relations Committee, said he is satisfied infection control protocols were followed and none of the youth inside the facility have tested positive for the virus, or appear to have symptoms. There are currently between 50 and 60 youth at the province’s largest youth detention facility located in Brampton, Ont.

Harding said the ministry is taking adequate security measures including temperature screening to prevent COVID-19 from spreading inside the province’s six secure youth detention facilities.