Human rights violations at Burnside jail

Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice (WW) is a registered non-profit organization in Nova Scotia that provides support, education and advocacy with for people who are pregnant or parenting young children and experiencing criminalization. We support people at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility (CNSCF). WW is a leading voice for reproductive justice.

We urge immediate action to address the human rights violations reported inside CNSCF. https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/worse-than-lockdown-prisoners-at-the-burnside-jail-are-being-held-in-solitary-confinement-conditions-for-covid-lockdowns/. NS was an international leader in sensible releases this spring to depopulate provincial prisons. The importance of that collaborative initiative between the court, corrections and community organizations is confirmed by the conditions facing those left behind.

For many months, WW, with our partners at East Coast Prison Justice, have urged the Human Rights Commission to attend to the conditions in provincial prisons during COVID-19. The HRC has not made a statement specific to how the rights of incarcerated people must be upheld during this extraordinarily trying time and has not entered and assessed facilities.

HRC must enter the prisons to assess conditions. HRC can collaborate with Public Health and Corrections to facilitate entry to CNSCF.