Women in custody in Greater Victoria are punished before they even come to trial. The lack of accommodation for female prisoners on Vancouver Island means women awaiting bail hearings and other court proceedings must be held in cramped police cells with minimal hygiene facilities. Men, on the other hand, are taken to the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre where they can shower, get a chance of clothes, have access to a gym and sleep on a padded bed.
It鈥檚 a shameful disparity that should be corrected, and it could be done without spending a lot of money.
The lack of a correctional or remand facility for women on the Island has sparked critical comments from provincial court judges, who usually are not prone to speaking out on issues. They are upset that women who are arrested are held in police cells, sometimes for days, without showers, in conditions that can be compared to solitary confinement.
If someone being held is physically or mentally ill, the situation is exacerbated 鈥� a police cell is not equipped to provide the care necessary in such cases.
And that鈥檚 before they are tried and convicted.
Beyond the basic necessities of life, women are at a disadvantage in the justice system. In many cases, women are flown to a provincial jail on the mainland, then flown back for court appearances in Victoria. This makes it difficult for lawyers to represent their clients properly. They can鈥檛 sit with them and go through documents. Communicating by telephone is much less effective than face-to-face contact, and often the clients are using telephones in areas where privacy is minimal or non-existent.
Women from the Island who are sentenced serve their time on the mainland. This gives them access to programs that can help with rehabilitation, but also puts distance between them and their families and support networks.
When women are released on the mainland, if they haven鈥檛 already made arrangements for transportation, transportation costs to the Island are covered. But if someone has mental-health problems or a drug addiction, turning them loose to find their way back to the Island is hazardous 鈥� the mainland presents too many opportunities for things to go wrong for vulnerable women.
Justice Minister Shirley Bond says the number of women prisoners does not justify building and operating a remand centre for women in the capital region; it鈥檚 not cost-effective. But reasonable access to the justice system and decent treatment while in custody are basic rights.
No one is advocating building a lavish correctional centre. Proper detention space for women could be created by renovating existing facilities, perhaps a unit at the VIRCC, opening a wing for women at the youth detention centre or having municipalities improve the conditions in which women are held in their police cells. It鈥檚 a problem that could be remedied with some creativity.
The problem is not confined to Vancouver Island. Remote areas of the province face the same challenges.
It鈥檚 easy to say that people caught up in the justice system bring their problems on themselves. If you can鈥檛 do the time, don鈥檛 do the crime, goes the saying. But this isn鈥檛 about crime and punishment, it鈥檚 about human decency.
Convicted killers serving life sentences have comfortable beds, access to medical care and recreation opportunities, while women being held on charges for such things as shoplifting and drug possession, even before they are convicted, are punished by being held in unsuitable and uncomfortable cells.
We鈥檝e come a long way in gender equality, but on Vancouver Island, it appears, we haven鈥檛 come far enough.
