"Stop Warehousing Women" writer on Manitoba's women's prisons says.

"Stop Warehousing Women," Elizabeth Comack says. She is one of the authors of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba report on women in the province's correctional system.

The report The Challenge for Change: Realizing the Legacy of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Report points out that the Portage Correctional Centre, the main facility for women in Manitoba held 55 women 157 percent of its official capacity of 35.

Built in 1893 for male prisoners, the Portage jail has long passed the point of being an adequate place for housing humans. Some 15 years ago, the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry declared the prison to be an "inappropriate facility" that should be closed. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission reiterated this recommendation in 2001. When Justice Minister Gordon Mackintosh announced in July of 2002 that Portage would be closed, it appeared that action was finally being taken.

In December of 2004, however, the government appointed a consultation committee to hold hearings on the direction to be taken in fashioning a new approach to women's imprisonment in the province. The committee held consultations in Portage, Winnipeg, and Thompson in February 2005, and submitted its report to the,, Minister at the end of March 2005. The report has not been made public. Now, almost one year later, there is still no word from government officials as to what is in store for women in conflict with the law.

Many of the women held at Portage have not been convicted of an offence. They are there on remand, waiting for their trial dates. Lawyers report that they are forced to meet with clients in the foyer of the building, which doubles as the visiting area.

Women held on remand that are taken to Winnipeg for their court hearings and then subsequently released are left to their own devices, as their belongings remain back at the prison. Recently, an Aboriginal woman from the North (and unfamiliar with the city) was left to find her own way to a treatment facility where she had been sent as a condition of her release.

The Elizabeth Fry Society pointed out that cuts to the social safety net (social programs such as social assistance, health care, and education) have led to the increasing criminalization of the most marginalized in society--including young, Aboriginal and poor women and those with mental and cognitive disabilities.

Research reveals that most women who are imprisoned do not pose a risk to community safety. Because of these serious deficiencies, the Elizabeth Fry Society reports that some women in Manitoba request a federal sentence (two years or more) rather than a provincial sentence (less than two years) because they view provincial incarceration as even worse than serving federal time.

Complaints about the facilities and conditions at Portage filed by the Elizabeth Fry Society are currently before the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. Over 70 percent of the women incarcerated in Manitoba are Aboriginal. The Aboriginal Justice advocated the use of community-based alternatives to incarceration developed and led by Aboriginal people.

The Southern Chiefs Organization, Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Manitoba) have called for a holistic strategy that includes healing lodges as an alternative to the usual prison regime.

The report was prepared by Professor Elizabeth Comack, University of Manitoba ad a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Manitoba) with Nahanni Fontaine and Charlene Lafreniere.

http://www.policyalternatives.ca.