Overcrowded conditions persist in Iqaluit jail

Too many inmates continue to be packed inside Nunavut's Baffin Correctional Centre, a result in large part of a lawyer shortage that has created a backlog of people awaiting trial.

There are 72 inmates in the territorial jail, which is built for 66. Overcrowding has been a problem at the Iqaluit facility for the past four years, even while the Nunavut government has been working on opening a new jail in the next few years.

"Basically, we have portable beds and we use our gymnasium as a sleeping accommodation," Doug Strader, the territorial government's director of corrections, told CBC News.

Strader estimated about two-thirds of the inmates are being held in remand, waiting for their court cases to proceed.

Having more inmates creates more tension at the jail, and makes it difficult for corrections officials to provide rehabilitation programs, he said.

"The remand count, because it gets so high, it basically determines our ability to provide programming ... in the facility, due to the overcrowding," he said.

Those inmates' court cases are being delayed because of a shortage of lawyers on both sides of the courtroom, said Chris Debicki, director of the Maliiganik Tukisiiniakvik legal aid clinic in Iqaluit.

"There's been a fairly high turnover. We've lost a lot of lawyers, both in legal aid and our counterparts, Crown prosecutors," Debicki said.

Only two criminal lawyers are on staff at the legal aid clinic, down from five lawyers just six months ago. Debicki said the clinic is actively hiring.

'A lot of transition'

"There's been sort of a transinstitutional perfect storm, meaning there's been a lot of transition in a lot of offices, meaning the courthouse, and in particular the Crown prosecution and legal aid, " he said.

Nunavut's Justice Department limits the number of inmates that can be sent out of the territory. A total of 28 offenders are serving territorial sentences in facilities in Yellowknife and in Ontario.

Meanwhile, Strader said corrections staff in Nunavut are left to deal with the overflow of inmates.

"There's only so much space, and when you get a significant number of people in the facility, it creates tension within the facility," he said. "It makes it difficult on staff and the inmates."

A new territorial jail is scheduled to open in Rankin Inlet in 2011. As well, a separate women's facility in Iqaluit is expected to be ready in the near future.