SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Female prisoners who have not yet had bail hearings in court in Yellowknife are no longer forced to await their court appearances in RCMP holding cells - they can now be lodged at the North Slave Correctional Centre.

Justice Minister Louis Sebert told Yellowknifer in an interview last Friday the new protocol was signed April 12.

It follows a ruling last month by Judge Robert Gorin that the common practice of housing female prisoners awaiting bail hearings in Yellowknife in RCMP cells was a violation of the equality rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Women were awaiting their court appearances in RCMP cells because there were no other holding facilities for women in Yellowknife. The territory's only correctional facility for women is in Fort Smith.

Gorin made his ruling after a female prisoner was kept in RCMP cells for 12 days and nights in late February and early March.

Staying in RCMP cells is different than the correctional centre. In RCMP cells, lights are kept on 24-hours a day. There are no visitors aside from lawyers and no phone calls allowed other than with lawyers. The concrete room has no window or pillow. Unlike the North Slave Correctional Centre, prisoners in the detachment cells are locked down all day. There is no music, no television, no books. Prisoners are served a microwavable dinner.

Sebert said the Justice Department did not want females lodged in RCMP cells and neither did the Mounties. He added he feels there is enough space between the two territorial facilities in Yellowknife to keep female prisoners out of RCMP cells.

"Both we and the police want these (females) who are remanded for any length of time to go down to Fort Smith," Sebert said.

"I really doubt that we would be in a situation where there wouldn't be space here for them. Unless we were somehow overwhelmed by the numbers, I think that this should deal with the problem."

Sebert said there is a locked door between the male and female inmates so he has no concerns about male and female prisoners being housed in the same facility.

In last month's ruling, Gorin reduced the woman's 10-month sentence to eight months because of the charter violation.

He was expected to release written reasons but as of Monday those reasons were not in the woman's court file. She had pleaded guilty to trafficking after selling a gram of cocaine to members of a federal RCMP investigations unit last summer.

It was Yellowknife lawyer Peter Harte who successfully argued that the extended stay in RCMP cells violated the woman's constitutional right to equal treatment under the law.

Harte said he is taking a wait-and-see approach on whether this new protocol will work.

He does have concerns that if a male prisoner needed the space at either facility in Yellowknife, they would likely take priority over a female prisoner.

Harte said there is still a problem for woman being held in Fort Smith because they regularly appear via video link for their Yellowknife court appearances.

"When the appearance before Judge Gorin ... took place, at times (my client) couldn't hear what was going on in the courtroom and she couldn't see witnesses who were testifying," Harte said.

In March, Department of Justice spokesperson Sue Glowach told Yellowknifer holding women at the NSCC would require enormous renovations and capital investment. However, in an e-mail to Yellowknifer on Monday, Glowach stated that changes made were "more organizational in nature with re-purposing of specific space."

Glowach added the new policy took effect on April 22. She said only female correctional officers will deal with female inmate.

Two women have been held at NSCC as of May 18, according to Glowach. She also stated that there are now four cells at NSCC dedicated for women and two at the youth facility.

- with files from Shane Magee

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