The news left Courtney Pike thinking about her brother, Gregory Pike, who tried to highlight the poor conditions while incarcerated in prison, before taking his own life last year. Courtney said Gregory suffered from mental health and substance abuse problems throughout his life and had spent time in prison. Last year, while under restrictions not to use drugs or alcohol, he relapsed and was sent back to the largest prison, HMP, Newfoundland and Labrador. His family believed he needed rehabilitation, not incarceration, and set out to find the treatment they say wasn’t readily available inside the prison. “We ended up getting him into a five-week treatment program and he was denied bail to do it – and he killed himself two days later,” said Courtney, a nurse in St. John’s. The current guest Catherine Cullen. “They offer people time off their sentences for unbearable conditions at HMP, but yet my brother died … it makes no sense,” he said. “My brother didn’t need jail; he should still be here.” HMP was built in the 1850s and is known for its crumbling infrastructure. (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press)
Rats, mold, “unbearable” food
Opened in the 1850s, HMP has it has long been criticized for its crumbling infrastructurewith frequent complaints of rat infestation, mold on the walls, poor health care and service and substandard food. In last week’s decision to reduce an inmate’s sentence, the Supreme Court judge pointed to other cases where inmates received credit because of prison conditions. These poor conditions were not news to Grigoris’ family. He often told them about issues ranging from bed bugs to “unpalatable” food, until he once contracted the MRSA superbug. In another incident, he suffered a severe head injury to the scalp that required staples. “He was supposed to have that wound cleaned and the bandage changed every day by a nurse, and he wasn’t seen for eight days and he started running a fever. He was running and running,” Courtney said. Parts of HMP are in desperate need of repair. (Ariana Kelland/CBC) When he still hadn’t been seen on day 12, Courtney called the prison herself to ask for medical attention. Some flesh around the wound had become necrotic, and an infection required a three-week course of antibiotics. “This was during the COVID outbreak. He should have been isolated for risk of infection in a cell,” Courtney said. “But he was forced to sleep on the floor in a cell with two other men, inches from the toilet with nothing covering his scalp.” Courtney said her brother wrote letters to officials, trying to highlight the poor conditions he and other inmates faced. But he said he didn’t get the mental health or addiction support he needed while incarcerated, despite the family’s efforts to help in any way they could. Gregory was found unresponsive in his cell on September 16 last year and died three days later in hospital. He was 30 years old. Courtney believes he would like to share his story and said she will spend the rest of her life advocating for change if it could possibly help someone else. “People are falling through the cracks and there’s a flawed system and people need help,” he said. “I don’t want Grigoris to be a statistic.”
New prison won’t solve old problems: advocate
The Current requested an interview with Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister John Hogan, but he declined. The ministry sent a statement saying it “takes very seriously the responsibility of having prisoners in our care” and acknowledges “there are known infrastructure issues that pose a challenge.” The statement also points to its construction a new penitentiary to replace HMPwhich he said is expected to begin in the spring of 2023 and take about three years to complete. Cindy Murphy of the John Howard Society says more support services and better staff are needed at HMP. (CBC) Attorney Cindy Murphy said a new jail is “absolutely necessary” but is skeptical it will automatically solve the facility’s problems. “If we don’t change the culture and the existing problems that are happening at HMP, we’re just going to transfer them to the new facility,” said Murphy, executive director of the John Howard Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, non. -profit involved in effectively tackling crime and prison reform. Like Courtney, she wants to see adequate and timely services provided to inmates, particularly regarding mental health and substance abuse issues. “We know somewhere in the 70 to 80 percent range [of inmates] have an identified substance abuse or mental health disorder,” he said, adding that without the right interventions, stories like Gregory’s are “all too well known.” Murphy said the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted those services in recent years, but staff shortages at the jail often mean there is no one to oversee the support offered by outside agencies. “Last week our staff were called to say you can’t come – because there’s no staff – to deliver the substance abuse program that night,” he said. “[I’m] I don’t hear what the efforts are in the Department of Justice and Public Safety to improve these conditions.” Last October a protest was held outside HMP involving families of prisoners facing harsh prison conditions. (Meg Roberts/CBC) While Murphy believes some conditions at HMP are “truly inhumane”, he said some of his problems “probably happen in many provincial correctional centers around the country”. Murphy said all prisons are responsible for the basic human rights of inmates, but acknowledged that “not everyone wants to hear that.” “There’s an expectation that if you do the crime, you’re going to do the time … it’s not the way it should be,” he told Cullen. “People are sentenced to a loss of liberty, that’s the punishment. But they shouldn’t be punished every day while they’re incarcerated,” he said. “Most of these people come back to us in the community and they’re going to live next door to you and me. And we want them to come out better than when they came in.” If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where you can get help: This guide from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health describes how to talk about suicide with someone you care about. Written by Padraig Moran, with files from CBC NL Produced by Paul MacInnis and Brianna Gosse.
