munkeyb0i
06-01-2005, 07:12 PM
An Inuit teenager's lawyer says corrections officials are abusing an agreement that allows northern inmates to be transferred south, where his client was brutalized.
John Hill questions the reasons his client, Sii Ashoona, ended up in a federal penitentiary while serving a sentence for robbery.
"If the agreement is used so that Nunavut can just arrest and incarcerate people and send the overflow south, then the spirit of the whole agreement seems to be breached," said Hill.
Ashoona was sentenced to 15 months for his conviction on robbery charges in January.
The Cape Corset resident should have served his time in Nunavut, but there was no room at the jail. And that set him on a path toward solitary confinement at Kingston Penitentiary.
"It was really tough," said Ashoona. "Sometimes I think about killing myself."
Corrections officers used an intergovernmental agreement to send Ashoona south to Fenbrook, a 90-minute drive north of Toronto.
They say they hoped Ashoona would benefit from a rehabilitation program offered there, designed specifically for Inuit offenders.
Instead of receiving help at Fenbrook, Ashoona, who speaks little English, says he was beaten up and sexually assaulted. When he fought back, Ashoona was charged.
He ended up in Kingston penitentiary where he was placed in solitary confinement and segregated for 22 hours a day.
Ron McCormack, director of corrections for Nunavut, says he tries to keep offenders from the north close to home. But he says Ashoona needed to go south.
"Our goal is to have Nunavut offenders serve their time in Nunavut," he said. "I will not send an offender to a federal institution in the south unless I am convinced that it is in the best interests of the offender."
Ashoona is now in a medium security penitentiary in Ontario where there are no programs for him. He'll finish his sentence this month.
What is your opinion on this? Do you think police officers that abuse prisoners should get fired from their jobs?
John Hill questions the reasons his client, Sii Ashoona, ended up in a federal penitentiary while serving a sentence for robbery.
"If the agreement is used so that Nunavut can just arrest and incarcerate people and send the overflow south, then the spirit of the whole agreement seems to be breached," said Hill.
Ashoona was sentenced to 15 months for his conviction on robbery charges in January.
The Cape Corset resident should have served his time in Nunavut, but there was no room at the jail. And that set him on a path toward solitary confinement at Kingston Penitentiary.
"It was really tough," said Ashoona. "Sometimes I think about killing myself."
Corrections officers used an intergovernmental agreement to send Ashoona south to Fenbrook, a 90-minute drive north of Toronto.
They say they hoped Ashoona would benefit from a rehabilitation program offered there, designed specifically for Inuit offenders.
Instead of receiving help at Fenbrook, Ashoona, who speaks little English, says he was beaten up and sexually assaulted. When he fought back, Ashoona was charged.
He ended up in Kingston penitentiary where he was placed in solitary confinement and segregated for 22 hours a day.
Ron McCormack, director of corrections for Nunavut, says he tries to keep offenders from the north close to home. But he says Ashoona needed to go south.
"Our goal is to have Nunavut offenders serve their time in Nunavut," he said. "I will not send an offender to a federal institution in the south unless I am convinced that it is in the best interests of the offender."
Ashoona is now in a medium security penitentiary in Ontario where there are no programs for him. He'll finish his sentence this month.
What is your opinion on this? Do you think police officers that abuse prisoners should get fired from their jobs?
