#inmate protest

Steven Nowack, a convicted fraudster currently doing time in the minimum-security wing of Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., said he's feeling helpless as coronavirus tightens its grip on the surrounding community.

"In here, you're defenceless. I can't go order PurelI, can't get gloves, I can't get a face mask, I can't ensure my food is properly prepared," Nowack told CBC by phone.

So far, seven inmates at three Corrections Canada facilities have tested positive for COVID-19: four at the Grand Valley Institution for Women near Kitchener, Ont., two at the Port-Cartier Institution and one at Joliette Institution for Women, both in Quebec.

Tight quarters With more than 160 prisoners confined to tight quarters in his wing, Nowack likens the Collins Bay facility to a cruise ship at dock, with one key exception.

"I am fearful that when the virus does enter the prison walls — and it will, because you have between 20 to 30 separate people entering prison from the outside world, not including delivery services — that ... you're dealing with a population unlike on a cruise ship which is here under duress," Nowack said.

According to Nowack, Collins Bay has made no changes to the way the facility is cleaned or disinfected, apart from placing two hand sanitizer stations in the dining hall, one of which quickly broke.

In an email to CBC, Corrections Canada said it's taking all possible precautions to keep staff and inmates safe.

"[The Correctional Service of Canada] has enhanced cleaning protocols, including disinfecting common areas of contact," a spokesperson wrote.

As well, inmates now receive meals in their cells instead of the dining hall, but Nowack claims staff don't wear mask or gloves when preparing or serving food.

Corrections Canada insists all safeguards recommend by the Public Health Agency of Canada are being followed.

Petitioned PM, minister At Collins Bay, the chapel has been closed, outdoor time has been limited and gym time has been cut to just a few hours a day.

Nowack said that's causing inmates to crowd the gym during the brief time it's open.

Nowack has sent a petition with two dozen signatures to the prime minister and public safety minister asking for the conditional release of some prisoners at the facility for their own safety, and that of staff.

Some politicians have also called for the conditional release of some prisoners, and there have been instances of jail guards refusing to report work over fears of coronavirus. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair did address similar concerns during a recent news conference.

Nowack has received replies acknowledging the receipt of his petition, but no word on when or whether he and his fellow inmates might be released.”

“Convict Not Sent Back To Quebec ‘Pen,’” The Kingston Whig-Standard. August 10, 1939. Scrapbook page. ---- Whig-Standard Learns Marcel Avelin, the Sit-Down Striker, Still in Kingston ‘Pen’ - Officials Silent --- While definite announcement by the Department of Justice at Ottawa is lacking and while officials of the Kingston Penitentiary decline to comment in any way, The Whig-Standard was able to learn on reliable authority on Thursday that Convict Marcel Avelin, who staged a sit-down strike at the top of the 138-foot chimney at the local institution, has not been transferred to St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary and would probably remain at the local institution.

Reports in Montreal and Toronto last night were to the effect that Avelin had already been transferred back to St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, but The Whig-Standard learned that this report was in error. Avelin, a 40-year-old convict, is serving 20 years for holdup. He was in St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary and some time ago was transferred to Kingston. Apparently the French-Canadian convict did not relish being removed from Quebec institution and several times has requested that he be sent back to Quebec, but his requests were not granted.

“Pole-Sitting Convict Gets His Wish, Sent To Montreal,” Toronto Star. August 9, 1939. Scrapbook page. --- Is Transferred to St. Vincent de Paul After Perching 128 Feet Up for 12 Hours at Kingston --- Special to The Star. Montreal, Aug. 9. - Marcel Avenil, 40-year-old convict who staged a 12-hour sit-down strike at Portsmouth penitentiary last night because he was homesick for Ste. Vincent de Paul, won out after all.

Examined by doctors after he was ‘persuaded to surrender,’ the French-Canadian convict was spirited away from Kingston and arrived at the Montreal institution early this afternoon, it was learned. He will be put under mental observation. ---- Screamed at Guards Special to The Star  Kingston, Aug. 8. - The city’s highest sit-down strike ended early today as a French-Canadian serving a 20-year term ended 12 hours atop a 128-foot smoke stack and surrendered to prison guards.

His surrender ended a long night in which he screamed at prison guards, and threatened to leap to death if an attempt was made to reach him.

The convict, homesick for St. Vincent de Paul penitentiary, Montreal, from which he was recently transferred here, pulled his unique sit-down in an effort to force prison officials to sign an order sending him back.

While working in the prison yard late yesterday afternoon, he scrambled unnoticed up the prison-house wall and hid on the roof near the chimney until other convicts had been marched inside to their cells. In a few minutes his absence was noticed and the alarm was sounded. He was finally located sitting nonchalantly on the smoke stack, high above the prison yard.

Used a Rake Officials said he had hooked a 12-foot garden rake, with which he had been working, around the bottom rung of the long ladder, 12 feet above the powerhouse roof, hauled himself up to the ladder, and climbed to the top of the 128-foot shaft.

Threats, promises, and coaxing of Warden I. W. Allen failed to move the convict. Sometimes shouting in French, sometimes in English, he warned the warden he would leap to his death if guards attempted to scale the ladder. Several times as guards approached the base of the chimney, the convict moved toward the outside of the narrow ledge as if ready to jump.

Took Stuff to Eat Guards settled down at the foot of the stack, confident hunger and thirst would soon end the one-man strike. But Avelin calmly snaked sandwiches and a flask of water out of the shirt of his prison uniform, and began munching food and sipping the water.

It was believed, however, that the lone sit-downer had not included weather in his calculations and that the torrential downpour that lashed the district during the early morning hours was an important factor in his ultimate surrender.

Through the night, the man continued to scream that he would come down only if they signed an order sending him back to to his alma mater, the Montreal prison. They flatly refused.

Finally officials decided to let him sit there ‘as long as he wants to’ and ordered the searchlights turned off, and a skeleton guard posted.

Remove the Rungs Likelihood of another prisoner adopting the smoke-stack-sitting method as a means of getting sent ‘home’ was dispelled as a convict with a torch cut away the iron rungs by which the inmate from St. Vincent de Paul made his ascent last night.

From semi-official sources, it was learned the pole-sitter came down of his own accord early this morning when wind and rain proved too much for him.

Pierre Beaupre, for 40 years an employee of the prison said as he sat in his hotel just outside the penitentiary walls this was ‘the first strike of this kind in the institution’s history.’

‘Desperate Criminal’ The warden squelched a rumor that the man had fallen, declaring he was physically all right. He withheld the man;’s name and declared further information about the incident would have to come from Ottawa.

Guards said the convict had been morose and ‘discontented’ since leaving the Montreal institution, and expressed the opinion he was ‘a desperate criminal and a thoroughly bad sort.’

Prison officials planned calling on the city fire department for lifenets to spread about the base of the chimney, when it seemed almost certain the sit-down would end with a single defiant leap as guards attempted to climb the stack.

The height of the chimney forced guards to shout with the result prison officials were soon hoarse from long and futile argument.

The wall of the power house runs up without a break for 20 feet. How the prisoner contrived to scale this smooth stretch is still a mystery.

For his stand against prison authority, the convict had chosen a ledge about four feet from the mouth of the smoke stack, and wide enough to hold a man. ---- Get No Transfer Special to The Star Ottawa, Aug. 9 - Justice department officials announced today that MArtel Avelin, Portsmouth penitentiary sit-downer, would not be transferred to Montreal as he requested.

Martel, 40, described as a ‘bad actor,’ a native of Quebec, was serving 20 years for a hold-up. He also served in a U.S. penitentiary, officials said.

“Man Threatens To Jump From 125-Foot Stack,” The Ottawa Citizen. August 9, 1939. Scrapbook page. --- Kingston Prisoner Refuses To Come Down Unless Assured of Transfer To St. Vincent de Paul. --- Canadian Press. KINGSTON, Ont., Aug. 9. - Searchlights focussed on a Kingston penitentiary convict perched precariously atop a 125-foot smokestack were dimmed early today as the prisoner hooked his feet about a ladder rung and seemingly settled down to sleep.

The unidentified prisoner, who climbed the chimney late yesterday and refused to descend unless he was promised return to a Montreal penitentiary whence he was transferred a few weeks ago, still was on top of the stack at 1.43 a.m. today.

At that time he apparently was prepared to spend the rest of the night on his lofty perch. Searchlights which had kept him in their glare throughout the evening were dimmed and most of the prison guards who had pleaded unsuccessfully with him to come down were withdrawn from the base of the stack.

The convict, believed to be a French-Canadian serving a 20-year-sentence, climbed the chimney while working with fellow prisoners near the penitentiary powerhouse.

Once, as a guard approached a ladder affixed to the stack, the prisoner made a motion as though he was about to leap. The guard hastily withdrew. The convict then sat down calmly on the edge of the chimney and seemed prepared to spend the night on his precarious perch.

Guards Comb Grounds. It was believed the prisoner scaled the powerhouse wall and hid on the roof near the chimney until the other members of the working party had been taken back to their cells. When he was missed an alarm was raised and guards began to comb the grounds. It was some time before any of the searchers thought to look up at the stack where the prisoner sat watching their efforts with apparent interest.

Penitentiary officials refused to discuss the incident. Plentiful Provisions The chimney-sitter could be seen eating sandwiches or bread and drinking from a bottle of water, which apparently was a supply large enough to keep him during a lengthy stay stop the stack. The prisoner drew the food from inside his shirt but how he obtained it could not be ascertained.

Officials Become Hoarse Owing to the height of the chimney, conversation between the prisoner and guards was carried on in a loud voice. Within a few hours prison officials were hoarse from the long and futile argument. The shouts could be heard clearly outside the prison walls.

“Convict Stages Strike At Top of Smokestack,” Montreal Star. August 9, 1939. Scrapbook page. ---- Kingston Prisoner Demands Return To Montreal Prison --- KINGSTON, Ont., Aug. 9. - (C.P.) - Sit-down strike of a Kingston penitentiary convict atop a 125-foot smokestack ended mysteriously today as dawn broke and the unidentified prisoner was absent from his precarious perch. Officials refused to offer any explanation on when or how the man came down.

Warden Allan squelched a rumor the convict, believed to be a French-Canadian serving a 20-year term, had fallen. The warden said he was all right physically but would offer no further information on the matter.

It is believed the convict, who climbed the chimney late yesterday and refused to descend unless he was returned to a Montreal penitentiary whence he was transferred a few weeks ago, might have descended during an exceptionally heavy rain and wind storm that swept the area today.

JUMP THREATENED The convict threatened last night that he would jump if any of the guards gathered on the ground around the base of the big stack should attempt to scale the smokestack.

Floodlights were placed on the figure during the night and guards shouted to the convict, who stubbornly refused to yield to their demands he descend.

Penitentiary officials flatly refused to state if the convict would be granted his demand to be returned to St. Vincent de Paul penitentiary near Montreal, nor would they give his name or any other details. All information, they said, must come from the Department of Justice in Ottawa.

The convict was reported to have slipped away from the gang he was working with at the power house yesterday and started to climb up the side of the chimney. Apparently he climbed the small iron rungs to his high perch before he was missed.

CONVICT AMUSED When the alarm was sounded that he was missing, the smokestack sitter obviously enjoyed the searched carried out for him before his position was spotted. He was easily seen from outside the high prison walls and his shouted conversations with the guards also could be heard plainly.

Guards settled down at the base of the stack, figuring hunger and thirst probably soon would end the one-man strike. But the convict calmly produced sandwiches and a bottle of water which was a supply apparently large enough to tide him over a lengthy stay stop the stack.

The Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, better known as the Burnside jail, has kept inmates in their cells for all but one hour of the day, sometimes for days or weeks at a time.

"It's just pretty hard on the head, especially with staying in contact with family, everyone's worried," an inmate told CBC Radio's Information Morning. "Just imagine being locked in your bedroom for 23 hours out of the day.

"We're all being penalized for something when none of us have done anything wrong."

CBC News has agreed not to identify the man because he fears he'll be targeted by correctional officers for speaking out.

A vicious cycle

While several inmates have gone to court over the lockdowns, arguing it violates their charter rights, management at the jail has said guards needed to take action because inmates were yelling death threats.

But the inmate who spoke to CBC News said Burnside is relying on lockdowns because guards are afraid of overseeing large numbers of inmates as part of a new direct-supervision model which involves arranging cells around a living area where staff are stationed.

He said going to court has become a waste of time because whenever inmates get in front of a judge, the facility lifts the lockdown and the case is dismissed.

"Then within days after the judge refused to hear the case because we've been unlocked, the facility relocks the units down … It's like a loophole that they escape the habeas corpus application," he said.

"It just continues and continues and it's been going on for a while."

The province's Department of Justice said direct supervision is widely considered best practice and allows for early intervention before incidents escalate.

El Jones, a prisoners' rights activist, said keeping inmates in their cells in this way is "worse than solitary confinement."

"As they're held in these conditions, they get anxiety, they get depression, they're experiencing mental health problems, that causes problems with the staff," she said.

"And the whole atmosphere and culture of the jail gets more and more violent, more and more stressful and then the response is to lock people down even more and the cycle continues."

Inmates being strip-searched, says advocate

She said she's heard from some inmates that they're being strip-searched, sometimes repeatedly throughout the day.

"You're talking about lifting your genitals and bending over and all of that happening, and that's happening to them six or seven times every day just to go to court and that is illegal under both the Corrections Act and the Human Rights Act," she said.

The Justice Department said strip-searches are only conducted when an inmate goes to court and returns to the jail. Suggestions that strip-searches are happening upward of seven times per transfer to and from court are false, the department said.

Jones said none of the demands inmates made during a peaceful protest in August has been met and she wants a full inquiry into how the jail is being run.

The inmate who spoke to CBC News said the situation has "only become harder on the people incarcerated."

"It's not like anyone is looking for some handout or leniency, we're just looking to be treated fairly while we're incarcerated."

Improvements implemented

Heather Fairbairn, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, acknowledged in an email Wednesday that "correctional facilities can be challenging environments in which to live and work."

However, she pointed to a number of improvements that have been made to Burnside over the last year, including upgrades to its heating and cooling systems, better food, and increased access to mental health and addictions programming. There is also a greater emphasis on staff training, especially where mental health is concerned, she said.

"We are focused on doing things differently and being more responsive to the needs of inmates and staff," Fairbairn wrote.

"Correctional Services is an ever-evolving environment and we continue to work ... to ensure that inmates are treated with respect while getting the support, safety and security that is required while in custody."