'Forced to pee in jugs': Saskatoon Correctional Centre inmates hunger strike over 'inhumane' conditions

About 30 inmates in a unit at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre are engaged in a hunger strike over what they describe as inhumane living conditions.

CTV News spoke with one of the hunger strikers on the phone. In his low-security unit, he says they’re locked in their cells for 20 hours a day, with limited access to water, fresh air or a toilet.

“We get the same amount of time as guys who are basically on a murder block,” said the inmate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“We’re hunger striking for more time out of our cells, and the opportunity to use the big yard with the rest of the low-security inmates,” he said.

“Everyone else gets an hour out in the big yard, and access to a weight pit, access to the basketball court, and just access to a bigger yard in general.”

In an email late Tuesday, the Ministry of Corrections confirmed some inmates on a single living unit at Saskatoon Correctional were “participating in a tray refusal,” which started on June 2.

The ministry said it’s “working with the inmates to find a resolution.”

The inmate who spoke with CTV News says other low-security units have access to the phone all day and can use the washroom when they need it, while in his unit the men are forced to keep jugs in their cells to urinate in.

“Guards only let us out every two hours. Some guards are, you know, really ignorant about it, and guys are forced to pee in jugs,” he said.

“We’re full grown men. We need to use the washroom sometimes.”

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The inmate said he and the other hunger strikers filed a complaint to the director of the facility on Tuesday, they’ve contacted the provincial ombudsman, and they’re contacting the minister of corrections on Wednesday.

“Obviously, we’re in jail and we know what we’re getting ourselves into,” he said. “[But] we don’t think that it’s fair that we don’t get the same privileges as guys wearing the same coloured shirts as us.”

CTV News spoke with the inmate on Tuesday night, as he approached the end of his third day without food, coffee or sugar.

“I really noticed it earlier today … startin’ to feel a little dizzy, a little lightheaded, you know?”

The ministry told CTV News on Tuesday that by the afternoon, some of the inmates had accepted meals. It said correctional officials are continuing to monitor and meet with the inmates to “ensure their health and safety.”

The inmate who spoke with CTV News said his group wants to see their concerns addressed “as soon as possible.”

He says as someone who hasn’t yet been convicted of a crime, it feels cruel to have such strict living conditions when other units in the same facility with the same security rating don’t.

“I still haven't had a trial. So theoretically, I'm locked up for 20 hours a day on charges I might not even be found guilty of.”

-With files from Hayatullah Amanat