Dear Colleagues,
An open letter is being circulated about the health of those who remain imprisoned in Canada during the COVID-19 outbreak and demanding actions to this issue. Please consider signing and circulating among
your colleagues and networks. Details are below.
Information about the demands are available here.
You can sign the letter here.
Best regards,
Abtin
CONTAIN COVID19, NOT PEOPLE
As our government calls on people to prioritize health, protocols to protect or prioritize the health of people who remain imprisoned have yet to be announced. As
people and organizations dedicated to supporting individuals who are imprisoned and their communities, we are concerned about the lack of protocols to protect and prioritize the health of those who remain behind bars. People should be released. We
demand a response to COVID19 that leaves no one behind, and centers those most impacted by the virus’ impacts. If we are to combat the spread of COVID19, and prioritize everyone’s health, we must adopt an approach
that centers the needs of our most vulnerable. Jails, prisons, immigration detention centers, juvenile detention facilities, and courthouses provide
specific challenges due to the large numbers of people detained or working in those facilities, existing unsanitary conditions, close
quarters, regular physical contact between guards and detainees, and the underlying chronic health conditions of many detained people.
I.Take immediate action to reduce the number of people in prison,
jails, and detention centers.
· Stop arresting
people for all non-violent crimes.
· Release all
immigrants and refugees from local jails and immigration detention centers. Do not
conduct immigration enforcement operations, especially in or around emergency shelters, hospitals, or medical clinics.
· Release anyone
in jail who is not being preventively detained on a detention order for posing a danger to the community. This should include those waiting on sureties,
those awaiting probation violation hearings, or parole revocation proceedings.
· Release from
prison and jails individuals who are particularly vulnerable - including people who
are over 60, pregnant, and/or immunocompromised.
· Release all
youth to the care of family and community.
II. Take
immediate action to protect those who remain imprisoned.
· Ensure that
those who are arrested are held in locations where they do not have to share toilets, soap, utensils, or bedding. Provide soap, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies to every person at no cost. Solitary
confinement should not be relied on for health and safety.
· Increase access
to fresh air spaces with safe social distancing for anyone who is detained.
· In the absence
of visitations, all phone calls and other forms of contact should be free.
· Provide protective
gear to all facility personnel and regular testing of all those incarcerated and those working in the facilities. Ensure medical programs are fully staffed and trained.
III. Take
immediate actions for the health of the working poor & criminalized:
· Make COVID-19
testing and treatment free and available to all.
· Legislate two
weeks of paid sick days for all workers and provide emergency financial support.
· Impose an immediate
moratorium on eviction proceedings and foreclosure proceedings.
· Immediately
end fare enforcement on public transit.
· Impose an immediate
moratorium on utility shut-offs of any kind and restore shut-off utilities.
· Cease the criminalization
of addiction and provide for safe injection sites.
IV. Take
immediate actions for the health of the region’s unhoused population:
· Provide locations
for unhoused people to self-quarantine in individualized spaces.
· Provide emergency
shelters that can remain open 24 hours a day with 3 meals a day. Provide 24 hour access to soap, hand sanitizer, water, showers, and restrooms.
We call on our local, provincial, and federal officials to publicize protocols and take the preceding immediate actions for our collective health.
Abtin Parnia |
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