D9

Alison Ménard

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You know what I have discovered? It is difficult to garner sympathy for detainees in our prison system.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "You do the crime, you do the time" seems to be the common refrain and I admit it is difficult to argue with that.

Serving a sentence in our penal institutions isn't very productive from a societal perspective, but it is one way for a person to be removed from society while he or she pays their debt for whatever criminal act has been committed.

It often gives that person an opportunity to think about the crime or crimes they have committed and in some instances to find a way to make amends to those who have been victimized. Even in the case where a convicted person doesn't make such amends, at the very least incarceration represents punishment meted out by the justice system for acts considered to violate society's rules on acceptable conduct.

Ideally, incarceration also offers opportunities for rehabilitation. The incarcerated individual should be required to address those factors in his life which create a perfect breeding ground for criminal activity -- lack of education, poverty, violence, drug abuse etc., so that when he is released into society there is at least a fighting chance that he will avoid criminal activity and live as a productive member of the community.

Giving opportunities to convicted persons to change those things in his or her life that have led to criminal behaviour, through programs and counseling for example, is often looked upon with skepticism by the rest of us. After all, why should these people receive any benefits at all while they're in jail? Why don't they just rot there while they're doing their time?

The answer is, at least partially, that rotting away while completing a jail sentence is of no tangible benefit to the rest of us. In fact, it's arguable that this creates conditions for further criminality once the person is released and, for the most part, they will be released eventually, except for the worst of the worst criminals.

The punishment is supposed to fit the crime and one of the many purposes of a penal sentence is to deter the individual being sentenced as well as other members of the community at large from committing similar criminal acts.

Most people would say that it shouldn't be a comfortable experience and it's difficult to disagree. Serving time shouldn't be easy, pleasant or desirable. Whether a person is inclined to engage in criminal acts or not, we should all want to avoid being incarcerated.

I would argue, however it, that there is a significant difference between making incarceration inappropriately comfortable and the deplorable conditions to be found in the provincial detention centre located in downtown Moncton.

Most people I speak with about this issue assume that prisoners in our provincial system have it pretty good.

The common belief is that detainees get three square meals a day, a comfortable place to sleep, exercise equipment, privileges, good TV, you name it.

My work takes me into the Moncton Detention Centre on a regular basis. A cushy country club setting it is not. Think stinking cesspool and you may be starting to get the picture.

And before you quickly reply: "so what, they deserve it", consider the fact that it does happen that people are remanded prior to trial if the charges against them are serious enough to warrant it. Not only are they entitled to be presumed innocent until proved guilty under the law, it just so happens that some are actually innocent and proved to be so once a trial eventually takes place.

Consider some examples of the deplorable conditions I am referring to.

Take the story of a guy who was held in jail on very serious charges awaiting trial who was eventually proved innocent at his trial. While he was waiting for his trial, he was housed at our local detention centre. The place is so over-crowded that it is not unusual for inmates and detainees to have to sleep on a mat on the floor, as was the case for this detainee. In this fellow's case, every time someone in his cell used the urinal, the urine would seep out and drip down all over his bedding, night after night.

Or consider another fellow, also awaiting trial and therefore presumed innocent, who was told by sheriff's deputies the rules had changed and he could no longer be taken to the washroom, even though he was sick and his problem was urgent.

He was expected to sit on a filthy toilet, covered in other inmates' sputum and bodily fluids, in an open cell area while surrounded by other detainees in order to use the washroom. When he dared question this, he was basically told "it sucks to be you, buddy; take it or leave it," although to be perfectly fair, he was eventually allowed to use a washroom in private given the nature of his problem, but was told it was an exception that would not be repeated.

It's not a very sexy problem, or the type that inspires a politician to take up the cause. So it's a problem that never gets solved, and only gets worse with time.

Guilty or not, arguably there is a minimum level of human decency and dignity that should be afforded even to those people considered by many to be the lowest among us.

Ultimately these people have to return to live among us in society. If we treat them like feral dogs while they are incarcerated, once they're released aren't they more likely to come back to us behaving like wild animals?

* Alison Ménard is a local lawyer and activist who operates a law firm and writes about social justice issues. Her column appears each Friday.