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| Last updated at 8:21 AM on 31/07/07 |
Inmate warns tension running high at prison 
HARRY SULLIVAN
The Truro Daily News
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| Officials at the Nova Institution for Women located on Truro’s James Street, indicated yesterday that staff is trained to address the needs of the facility’s inmates with mental health issues. |
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TRURO – Mentally ill patients at the Nova Institution for Women are being neglected and mistreated according to another inmate who said the situation is reaching a boiling point.
“The tensions are high,” said a prisoner who identified herself as Amanda Raynes during a call to the Truro Daily News to report what she described as growing concern over a situation that involves hygiene issues and allegations that some mentally ill inmates are not being properly cared for.
“It was just pissed off at first,” she said, of the reaction by the inmate population, “but now people are getting very angry.
“As far as I am concerned, this is provoking violence.”
Gail Baker, the assistant warden of management services at the institution acknowledged that prison staff is dealing with ongoing issues but she could not comment on any specific individual or areas of concern.
“Yes, it’s affecting the others,” Baker said of the situation. “I can’t get into specifics but the needs and issues are being addressed.”
Inmates at the institution are housed in residential “pods,” as opposed to barred cells, with individual sleeping quarters and common living and eating areas.
According to Raynes, the problem revolves around three inmates with mental health issues whom she said are either being neglected or otherwise not properly cared for.
In some cases, personal hygiene practices are forcing other inmates to live among the stench of human feces and urine while another young prisoner is being fed only “finger foods on paper towel” and must make do with only “four squares of toilet paper per day,” as a punishment measure for misbehaving. That same individual is not being allowed soap, she said.
“I’m concerned for the mentally ill people and I’m also concerned for the other women on the unit ... their whole unit is unbelievable, it smells of human feces and urine...”
Raynes said one woman had not showered in two weeks and had not eaten in days because she would not leave her room.
“She’s been urinating in her garbage can, all over herself. It’s all over her room,” she said.
“We’re not trained for this (to deal with mentally ill inmates).”
Raynes believes the prison does not have enough staff properly trained to deal with inmates with mental health problems, nor that they should be housed with the general prison population.
Baker, however, disagrees.
“As in any other institution in Canada, we have our share of offenders with mental health issues, which we are addressing,” she said.
“We have staff trained in all these areas on all these issues.”
Ultimately, Baker said, Correctional Service of Canada places a top priority on inmate health and safety and while unsettling incidents may occur, they are not ignored.
“If those women weren’t fit to be mixed in with the other population, they wouldn’t be,” she said.
“The public can rest assured that their needs are being looked after.”
hsullivan@trurodaily.com
Officials at the Nova Institution for Women located on Truro’s James Street, indicated yesterday that staff is trained to address the needs of the facility’s inmates with mental health issues. File photo
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31/07/07
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S. P. Cook from Brookfield,, Nova Scotia writes: I read the above information re: the Women's Prison with horror and concern. First of all, it would certainly appear that the mental health patients are not being cared for as they should be and if there is even one room that smells worse than an outside toilet - then get it cleaned up and care for this person! I am sure there must be a reason for Ms. Raynes' concern.
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| Posted 31/07/2007 at 11:54 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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