Regina remand centre being used to detain patients who won’t self-isolate

As of Monday night, the White Birch Remand Centre in Regina was housing three people its designers likely never considered — COVID-19 patients.

The provincial government is using the centre as an isolation centre for those with COVID-19 who either can’t or won’t self-isolate and are breaking the public health orders.

“The use of the isolation centre is considered a ‘last resort’ to prevent an individual from spreading COVID-19 in situations where other approaches have not been effective or appropriate,” Ministry of Justice spokesperson Noel Busse wrote in an emailed statement.

Three people were expected to be in isolation at the centre as of the end of Monday, bringing the total number of people who have been sent there to five. The isolation centre was set up in April.

People taken there are given any medical care they might need and are released when they no longer have COVID-19.

“The isolation centre is meant specifically to ensure that individuals who are unwilling to comply with the self-isolation orders do not pose a risk of infection to the general public,” wrote Busse.

At the beginning of April, Regina police reported that a 28-year-old woman was fined $2,800 for going out while she was supposed to be self-isolating; she had tested positive for COVID-19.

Police Chief Evan Bray said there were attempts made to get the woman to isolate, but she ignored the warnings.

“We had quite a few interactions with this young lady over a period of a couple of days and there were multiple attempts to try to have her self-isolate,” Bray said at the time.

He indicated the woman was taken into custody to make sure she was isolated, but didn’t say where.

“There is a facility that has been set up and is a place where police or any official that is going to be making some sort of arrest or enforcement on this order can isolate a person until they are symptom-free,” Bray said. “So that’s where this young lady is going to be held.”

The Ministry of Justice declined to give any information on the people who were put into isolation at the facility, saying that doing so would reveal private health information.

The centre is being operated by staff from the Sheriff Service, and they’re using all safety precautions necessary, according to Busse. That includes the use of personal protective equipment, ongoing cleaning, and maintaining physical distancing as much as possible.