Canadian inmates contribute tens of thousands to charity every year

OTTAWA – More than 130 Canadian charities have benefited from upwards of $129,000
generated over the last two years by some of this country’s most
unexpected philanthropists – federal inmates, many of whom are serving
life sentences for murder and have limited opportunities to earn money
yet choose to give away what they have to those less fortunate.

With the season of giving upon us, it may come as a surprise to many Canadians just how much time, effort and expense prisoners expend throughout the year giving back to the communities they let down in one way or another.

From a $4,000 donation from inmates at Fraser Valley Institution to the Bowls of Hope Society of Chilliwack, B.C.’s school lunch program, to the Exceptional People’s Olympiad hosted annually for the last 36 years by Collins Bay Institution in Ontario, documents obtained by Postmedia News through access to information laws show significant contributions involving both cash, goods and time.

John Chaif, an inmate at Ontario’s Joyceville Institution who is currently serving a life sentence for killing his wife, helps coordinate a lot of the charity work that goes on at the medium-security prison. Noting many people who end up behind bars were literally “pulled off the streets,” he said it shouldn’t come as a surprise that inmates want to help the needy.

“It’s an interesting illusion that people that are in prison are no longer members of society right? It’s not true,” he said in a telephone interview.

“One of the misconceptions is that because a person does a bad thing, they’re a bad person and they don’t care about other people and that’s just not always the case. People have compassion and look after each other even inside the walls. So of course that spreads out into the greater community as well.”

According to the documents, inmates across the country have raised money for local food banks, kids sports teams, they’ve sponsored families for Christmas, fostered children through international aid organizations and contributed to numerous charities like the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Habitat for Humanity, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Children’s Wish Foundation, the Humane Society, the Hospital for Sick Children, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, the CNIB and the Boys and Girls Club.

The medium-security Leclerc Institution near Montreal, which is slated for closure, hosted disabled people on multiple occasions around Christmas and Easter to “allow prisoners to be in contact with people who are different from themselves,” according to documents detailing the initiative. The visits allowed inmates and their guests to share a meal and included the exchange of gifts as well as a donation to the organization itself.

A $1,155 donation by inmates at Drumheller Institution in Alberta to the Canadian Red Cross’ Slave Lake Fund for those impacted by wildfires and a $2,042 donation for famine relief in Somalia collected during Ramadan from offenders at Ontario’s Joyceville Institution suggests that despite their isolation, inmates are nonetheless attuned to the hardships of their fellow citizens at home and abroad.

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Other times, charity work has begun much closer to home. Inmates at Stony Mountain Institution in Manitoba, for instance, raised more than $670 for the funeral of Joseph Gordon Nepinak who served as the medium security prison’s spiritual leader and elder for 13 years. Prison fellowships and the John Howard Society are also listed among the charities that benefit from inmate donations.

Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, said she’s also heard of female inmates band together to help one of their own. In one case, women pooled their funds to help a fellow inmate whose child needed a wheelchair. In another, an inmate’s husband needed a motor scooter due to complications from diabetes.

Inmates are also putting their skills and talents to work for others. Through the “Garden Project,” for example, inmates in New Brunswick “worked hard in preparing, planting, weeding, cultivating and finally harvesting our vegetable garden throughout the summer months,” according to a memo. The harvest yielded some 2,434 kilograms of vegetables that were distributed to a pair of food banks and Mountain Top House which provides affordable lodging to families visiting inmates at three federal prisons in the area.

Meanwhile, inmates at Warkworth Institution in Ontario make comforters by hand as well as hobby craft goods that are donated to local charities for use in draws, auctions and other fundraisers. According to the documents, the comforters generate about $20,000 a year for charity.

Gail Ireland of the Westshore Christmas Hamper Fund Society in Victoria said her organization received about $1,000 last year, half of it generated by inmates at William Head Institution in Victoria. The Correctional Service of Canada matched the other half, she said, noting the funds were used to purchase Christmas presents for children in the community.

“I think I hand wrote a special note . . . I told them how much it meant and how much it eased the stress for a lot of needy parents in the western communities with their generous contribution,” she said.

“When they get out, when they serve their sentence, they might be benefiting in the same way,” she added. “Doing prison time I think would carry quite a stigma with it and you know, it must be a tough road for them to get back into mainstream life.”‘

Funds for charity are often generated from barbecue socials, pizza parties, doughnut, chocolate, pastry, pop and chip drives organized by inmate welfare committees or specific prisoner social groups,be it the “lifers,” “Black Inmates and Friends Assembly” or “Seniors.” They also raise money through bottle drives and other recycling initiatives.

According to the documents, inmates sometimes learn about community fundraisers while taking part in escorted temporary absences from prison.

Sometimes inmates are even encouraged to get competitive. According to the documents, for example, Frontenac Institution in Ontario approved a “range war” contest to “see who donates more to the United Way Campaign.”

Prison staff are also invited to participate in some cases. For example, the documents suggest inmates at Riverbend Institution in Saskatchewan raised $150 through a “softball challenge” involving inmates and staff. At Frontenac, prison staff and inmates raised $2,278 for the United Way and a local “Clothes for Kids” campaign through four baseball games and barbecues.

“The institution and inmate committee are sponsoring a staff vs. cons slo-pitch game and BBQ,” reads a flyer circulated in September from “the Warden and Inmate Committee.”

“Menu: cheeseburger and a hotdog, salad, dessert, condiments and soda. The meal is free. You are encouraged to make a small donation to this fundraiser.”

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has raised concerns about these sorts of breaks from hard time. His spokeswoman Julie Carmichael noted in an email that Canadians were “concerned that dangerous and violent prisoners had across-the-board access to pizza parties and BBQ socials” and that the Minister asked the corrections commissioner to end the practice.

“While outside food may be appropriate as a reward for good behaviour, it is not appropriate for all offenders regardless of progress in their correctional plan,” she said.

Although the government views charity work as a positive activity for offenders, aspects of the fast-food component are under review as part of an incentive strategy still in development.

That said, depressed wages, recent increases in the cost of room and board and telephone calls and cuts to work programs that allow inmates to earn money are adversely impacting their ability to give back, according to those who work with inmates.

Wendy Jackson, a Social Programs Officer at Joyceville who acts as a liaison between prison management and inmate leaders, said there have also been a lot of lockdowns lately, as inmates are shuffled around due to the closure of three prisons in Ontario and Quebec.

Such things, she said, make it difficult to coordinate charity events.

Federal inmates giving back:

• In August, inmates at Rockwood Institution in Manitoba donated nine televisions to the Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters.

• Inmates at Bath Institution in Ontario held a fundraiser as part of Black History Month last year that generated $155 for World Vision. They asked that the money go towards school supplies for two classrooms and that the remainder be used to purchase two hens and a rooster.

• Inmates at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatchewan have sponsored children through Food for the Hungary.

• Last year lifers at Saskatchewan Penitentiary raised $500 to purchase toys and electronics from Walmart and Future Shop for Christmas hampers.

• Westmoreland Institution in New Brunswick raised $1,000 for the Tantramar Regional High football team.

• Inmates at Frontenac Institution in Ontario raised $3,000 last year to help cover the medical expenses for a terminally ill child in the Kingston community after inmates caught wind of a movement to assist the little boy.

• Inmates at the Regional Treatment Centre in Ontario raised $1,000 last year for Pet Valu’s Love a K9 animal charity.

• Inmates at Millhaven Institution donate $40 a month to Canadian Feed the Children.

• Inmates at Ontario’s Beaver Creek Institution purchased $3,000 worth of gift cards for the Children’s Aid Society.