I was, and remain, outraged to learn of the additional, mental and physical hardships women prisoners are faced with on the Island because there are no holding facilities here for women. The women we are talking about here are awaiting trial, they have not been convicted of anything. They are being taken away from family, friends and any support they may have here to await trial.
They are being unduly punished by the lack of facilities for women on the island caused as the result of economic cut backs by a heartless, mean spirited provincial government. This is wrong and should be rectified immediately.
Whatever happened to the “presumption of innocence until proved guilty?”
Trish Summerhayes.
Owner/Publisher.
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Mainland judge aghast at lack of jails for women on Island
A Vancouver-based B.C. Supreme Court justice was incredulous Tuesday upon hearing of the lack of jail facilities for women on Vancouver Island.
“There must be some accommodations for female prisoners on the Island,” said Justice Arne Silverman, in Victoria hearing a case.
Silverman was reacting to the scheduling of a bail hearing for Kaela Janine Mehl of Victoria.
Mehl, 33, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 16, 2015, death of her 18-month-old daughter. Mehl was arrested April 19.
The province has no facilities for female prisoners on the Island. As a result, women attending bail hearings, trials, sentencings or other proceedings must be held in police or RCMP cells, or flown to the mainland.
Mehl is being held in the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge.
Her bail hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but defence and Crown lawyers agreed to delay it to May 2, a Monday, and Silverman approved.
The defence and Crown lawyers later returned to his courtroom, interrupting another case to ask that the bail hearing be rescheduled to May 10, a Tuesday.
Having the hearing on Monday would require Mehl to be brought to Victoria from the Maple Ridge prison and spend the weekend in police cells, without a shower or much in the way of privacy. Holding it later in the week means only one night in police lockup.
The lack of appropriate accommodation for women in custody is a long-standing complaint. Provincial court judges have called it shameful, discriminatory and profoundly unfair, while the West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund said it has resulted in “grave violations” of women’s right to equal treatment.
In 2012, the Victoria Police Department told provincial justice officials that it couldn’t accept any prisoners for longer than 24 hours, particularly women. It said its facility was inadequate, with no exercise space or fresh air, and able to provide only fast food for meals.
Men serving provincial sentences or awaiting trial are sent to the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Facility on Wilkinson Road in Saanich, while women are sent to the mainland, usually Alouette.
The distance makes it difficult for Vancouver Island women to serve sentences of less than 90 days on weekends. But the option is fully open to Vancouver Island men, who can easily present themselves to a correctional facility on Friday and be discharged on Monday.
Defence lawyers also complain that it can be difficult for women sent to the mainland to properly reach legal counsel.
“With male clients, it’s so much easier to just whip out to Wilky for a face-to-face conversation,” said Andrew Tam, criminal justice co-chairman of the Canadian Bar Association in Victoria.
Tam called the situation inhumane. Shipping anybody off Vancouver Island to serve a sentence or await trial deprives them of access to family and friends. “You are away from your family, your kids, all your support networks,” he said. “And these people need that support more than anybody.”
Kendra Milne, director of law reform for West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, said her organization has lobbied about the issue for years.
In addition to Alouette Correctional Centre, the province has facilities that include wings for women — the Prince George Regional Correctional Facility and a jail under construction in the Okanagan.
“It makes sense [to have separate wings or a prison for women],” Milne said.
“But it doesn’t address the issue of women who live on Vancouver Island.”
The provincial Ministry of Justice said via email that the small number of women in remand means it’s uneconomical to build a facility on Vancouver Island for women. It also noted that more court appearances are taking place via video.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Mills, the lawyer representing Mehl in front of Silverman, said the issue has been a complaint of lawyers and judges in Victoria for years.
“This is something that can only be described as a failure of the administration of the province to adequately accommodate females who are in custody.”
Richard Watts / Times Colonist
© Copyright Times Colonist
Patricia M. Summerhayes.
Publisher/Editor.
Island Woman Magazine.
islandwoman@shaw.ca
See all articles by Trish Summerhayes
Not only NO facilities for women…if they are locked up with a mixture of males and females the female is subjected to male guarding in all prisons in BC, except Nanaimo…where we are once again fighting to maintain gender guarding! The system is corrupt in and of itself! There should be huge outcry’s on the guarding issue alone, never mind adding to that the no facilities for women also exists. Stop and think….would you like your female who has not be convicted of anything being monitored by a make guard???