Advocate for inmates calls on government to scrap Saskatoon jail expansion

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan is leading the charge to have the provincial government change course on a planned expansion at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.

The organization works with incarcerated women and says the province should be investing in alternatives to incarceration.

“People are asking for help. People are dying. People are overdosing,” said executive director Sandra Stack. “Direct the funds into social services and supports that need to be made into the community to address systemic poverty and homelessness.”

A petition launched on Change.org is seeking 1,500 signatures. As of noon on Thursday, nearly 1,200 had signed it.

The $120 million dollar expansion to the remand centre will add 216 cells capable of holding 427 people.

“This expansion represents a significant step forward in our ability to provide a safe environment for remanded individuals,” said Corrections and Policing Minister Christine Tell in a news release.

“Combined with our existing remand strategies and programming, it will provide more space to successfully manage the population of offenders and accused in our correctional system.”

The petition notes the announcement came immediately after a $1.3 million request from AIDS Saskatoon to operate a safe consumption site was overlooked in the provincial budget.

Stack said some of the money should be directed there.