REGINA – A Regina-based researcher says there’s no need for Saskatchewan to build new prisons. Instead, he suggests the province look at options to keep more people out of jail.
“Thirty to 40 per cent of people that are in Saskatchewan’s provincial prisons on any given day are on remand, which is to say they are awaiting trial and have not yet been sentenced,” said Jason Demers, an English professor at the University of Regina and author of a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report about Saskatchewan prisons.
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Demers pointed to other provinces that have introduced pre-charge screening, which has lowered the number of people in remand.
The researcher spoke as part of a panel on discrimination in Saskatchewan’s prison system. Many University of Regina human justice studies students attended.
“The more programs that we can build and that provide effective supports and programs that especially try to surround people with some care and try to counter-balance some of the stigma they may have experienced after being incarcerated or just having a justice encounter are very important,” explained justice studies professor Michelle Stewart.
Stewart encouraged the students to get involved with programs such as Friends On The Outside or Straight Up.
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