Women prisoners' rights being violated: lawyer

A legal aid lawyer in Nunavut is filing a complaint against the territorial government with the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal for its handling of female inmates.

Patrick Cashman says it's unacceptable that there is no correctional facility in the territory for women prisoners or those charged with offences.

Some women are sent out of the territory while others are held in the RCMP's holding cells. Currently there are three women in remand at the Nunavut courthouse in Iqaluit.

Cashman says those cells are normally used to house inmates for a few hours until their appearance in court. It's not designed to hold them for a week or more.

"There doesn't seem to be any concern at all from anyone in the government of Nunavut, from the jailers here in our $16-million Palace of Justice up to Paul Okalik himself, there doesn't seem to be any concern for the treatment of women in Nunavut," he said.

One of Cashman's clients, Arlene Kadloo, isbeing held at the Court of Justice. She was moved toa room with a cot and metal bench in Iqaluit, after being housed at the women's prison in Fort Smith, N.W.T.

"I thought it was bad there because I've never been in jails before," said the 20-year-old from Pond Inlet, about 1,000 kilometres northwest of Iqaluit. "I thought it was bad but compared to this place, it's really, really nice."

Cashman calls his client's present living conditions "solitary confinement" and said putting women inmates in holding cells at the RCMP detachment or the courthouse is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"There's no facility for them, there's no treatment for them, there's no concern of any kind by anyone in the government of Nunavut that this is going on. And it breaks my heart frankly," he said.

Markus Weber, the territory's deputy minister of justice, admits it's not an ideal situation. But he said female inmates are being held under humane conditions.

"The conditions at the RCMP cells are somewhat worse than the courthouse. We decided to hold them there until we can find some other accommodation," he said.

Weber says there needs to be a facility for convicted and remanded female inmates in Nunavut, but there are still no firm plans to build one at this time.

Last week, a Yukon lawyer complained about a lack of facilities for women awaiting trial in that territory after the halfway house in Whitehorse stopped accepting female prisoners.