Correctional Services Canada: Clean up Your Act Towards Families of Deceased Prisoners
Imagine for a moment someone in your family dies and you are notified over the phone, with no details about the death, nor are you able to see the body, perform funeral rites and the ashes of your loved one is sent to you through a courier service weeks after the death.
This is the grim reality for many families of prisoners in this country, says a recent watchdog report about Correctional Services Canada.
Prisoners' families, all over the country, are being denied access to information regarding the death of their family members while incarcerated, sometimes receiving edited reports on the death, sometimes very little information at all.
The families of prisoners have the right to know what has happened to their kin. They have the right to be with their deceased loved one and to arrange for appropriate funerary rites and not have the state decide these for them.
The watchdog report recommends that Correctional Services Canada must communicate clearly and quickly with family following a death, have trained staff to speaked with the family and release all information to the families regarding the death in a timely manner in order to prevent the traumas that have been perpetuated thus far by the system.
Sign now to protect the rights of families of prisoners in Canada. By signing today you are supporting the humanization of prisoners and their families across the country.
To the Honourable Ralph Goodale,
As a person who believes in the rights of all Canadians I am appalled by the recent findings of the Office of the Correctional Investigator which reported horrible findings of Correctional Services Canada when it comes to the deaths of inmates.
In this report it was found that families were being denied information regarding the death of their kin and even a case of the ashes of a deceased prisoner being couriered to their house. This is unacceptable.
I call upon you to heed the recommendations of the report including:
- Quickly disclose as many relevant facts to families immediately following a death in custody.
- Train staff who communicate with next of kin after an inmate dies.
- Release all mortality reviews and national board of investigations reports to families in a timely manner and in their entirety.
- Set up procedures and protocols for communicating with family when an inmate is taken to an outside hospital in a medical emergency.
Prisoners are humans and their families must be treated respectfully when dealing with the grief and trauma of a death of a loved one.
[Your Comment Here]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
