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A new home for healing
Minimum-security facility to give government room to repair Baffin Correctional Centre

Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 9, 2015

IQALUIT
A large number of men housed at the Baffin Correctional Centre, notorious for its woeful conditions, will get a reprieve when they move to the new 48-bed Makigiarvik minimum-security facility next door. That move will happen when it opens in the very near future.

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The Department of Justice's manager of capital and special projects, Chris Stewart, is preparing to open Makigiarvik, the new correctional facility for minimum-security offenders in Iqaluit. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"This facility is going to help Justice out in a lot of ways," said Chris Stewart, manager of capital and special projects for the Department of Justice. "One is to alleviate that immediate overcrowding at the Baffin Correctional Centre. As well, it allows us to have new programming space to offer programming for offenders staying at this building."

"It's absolutely been needed for years," said defence lawyer James Morton, who typically represents those facing the most serious charges and have spent time at Baffin Correctional Centre.

"My only concern is that it may be obsolete on opening with the number of beds. BCC has been so overcrowded for so long, my concern is this will take the overflow from BCC, and we'll need another one almost right away. What we really need is a complete rebuild of a full-sized facility."

BCC is currently sitting at capacity with 66 inmates. Built in 1984 as a minimum-security facility, it was upgraded in 1996 to add medium-security areas. But it continues to house even inmates with a maximum-security rating.

In 2013, the federal Office of the Correctional Investigator sent two staff members to evaluate BCC for Nunavut's Department of Justice. At that time, the facility was housing 106 inmates.

The investigators noted in their report that the jail had been overcrowded for years, with cells housing double, triple, or quadruple their intended capacity.

There was also no separation of inmates on remand (presumed innocent) and those convicted.

Forty-two dorm inmates and 15 inmates housed in the gymnasium were sharing two showers, two toilets and three urinals. Images from the report produced by the two staff members show filth and areas where the building is falling apart.

In contrast to the conditions at BCC, the $15-million Makigiarvik - defined as "going through hard times and rising up" - is clean, warm and bright.

Resembling a hospital or stripped-down student dormitory, the cells are basic bedrooms with a bunk and desk for each inmate. Each room has a TV but no toilets or sinks. Notably, there are no locks on the doors.

"They'll need access to go to the washroom," Stewart said. "Because of their minimum-security rating, they're able to do so. Of course, the main exterior doors of the facility are locked."

In keeping with the rehabilitative approach, the facility's staff - three or four on shift at any given time - will be corrections case workers who will be responsible for more than security.

"The other hat, the case worker hat, is a much more therapeutic, counselling, programming role," Stewart said. "Staff members here will be a part of the programs. They're going to be part of the healing that takes place here."

Some of that healing will involve off-site programming, including land trips under supervision. In-house programming includes training for high school equivalent and pre-trade education, as well as learning the ropes in the facility's commercial kitchen, which mimics those seen at mining camps.

"We're working on getting a camp cook training program," he said. "Being able, while these people are with us, to provide that experience in a commercial kitchen and have them leave with something that says they had so much experience should enable them to find employment upon release."

The facility is barrier-free, so inmates and staff with disabilities will not feel unwelcome. Plus, little touches are designed to make a place for rehabilitation. On each side of the symmetrically designed space, there are 12 rooms, washrooms, coffee makers and toasters, and places to sit and work.

All fixtures are movable, and one noticeable human touch is that the tabletops are etched with chess boards.

"We really want to encourage the positive interactions that happen," Stewart said, noting he sees inmates sharing games with other inmates or with staff.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the building, and corrections workers are still being hired. Despite this, Stewart expects Makigiarvik to open very soon.

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