GARDINER MINES, N.S. —
Anyone wishing to send money to an inmate anywhere in Canada by using actual cash, can do so at the Cape Breton Correctional Facility in Gardiner Mines.
A kiosk set up in the entrance of the building — owned by Synergy, a Texas-based inmate communications company — allows for anyone to make such transfers, using cash or a credit card– in which the funds would be instantly available to the inmate in their trust account.
Kirk Shepard, superintendent of the Cape Breton Correctional Centre, demonstrated the process to the Cape Breton Post.
“This shows all the facilities this company is dealing with in Canada,” he said pointing to the kiosk screen.
“If there is an inmate in Alberta you wanted to send money to, you could actually come here and deposit it to their account.”
FAST FACTS
- The Cape Breton Correctional Facility (CBCF) opened its doors in February 1975 and is one of four adult correctional centres in Nova Scotia.
- The CBCF has a maximum capacity of 96 adult male offenders.
- The facility also operates temporary accommodations including a six-bed dorm for women and a temporary detention facility for youth when needed pending court appearances or transfers to the women’s unit at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional facility or youth facility in Waterville.
- The Synergy website lists three ways to get funds to an inmate, including by phone, online through use of a credit card, or at a kiosk by cash or credit card at any of the adult correctional facilities in the province where the funds would be available to the inmate instantaneously.
- Inmates are provided with hygiene products when admitted to the correctional centres in Nova Scotia and allowed one amenity item a week including toothbrush, toothpaste, anti-perspirant, stamped envelope with paper, pencil.
John Scoville, chief superintendent of Nova Scotia’s four adult correctional facilities, said money is not permitted inside any of their adult facilities.
Any cash on an inmate when admitted to a correctional centre would be deposited into their trust account.
“They could use the money in their account for things like the canteen or phone calls,” Scoville said. “Upon exit, whatever they have left, they would get back.”
An inmate would receive a list of items and be able to place an order and have the items delivered to them.
Although there’s no limit to what a person can deposit into an inmate’s account, Shepherd said in Nova Scotia an inmate can only spend up to $35 twice a week.
The funds are limited are so inmates can’t buy large amounts of items and use them such purposes as gambling or end up in situations where other inmates might steal from them.
“Some people are vulnerable,” Shepard said. “We want to make sure what they’re getting is just for them.”
Funds can also be deposited into an inmate’s account online through a debit or credit card.
“If you live in a remote area and had a family member here, you could go online rather than have to travel a long distance,” said Gena MacDermid-Gosse, deputy superintendent of the facility.
“That makes it easier for them to be able to support their loved ones while they are here.”
The correction facilities provide hygiene items for inmates. However, Scoville said some might have a personal preference — such as a type of shampoo — and purchase it from the canteen.
There are hygiene products, snacks and even shower sandals available at the canteen.
“There’s not a large option. It’s not significant,” Scoville said. “There is provincial jurisdiction. Our canteen is consistent for every adult correctional facility across the province.”
Every year inmates get a chance to submit suggestions as to what they’d like to see in the canteen and suggestions are reviewed and taken into consideration.
Shepard said the most popular canteen item is protein bars. It was actually through a request of inmates at the Cape Breton facility that the type of protein bars was recently changed as they were a high-sugar product and the inmates wanted a low-sugar protein bar.
“We tried a pilot program and they’ve been going well,” Shepard added.
As a result, these protein bars are now offered in all the provincial correctional centres.
Shepard said the cost of canteen items is similar to what someone would see in any vending machine.
At some jails, inmates can also use their account for use of computer tablets which became available through a pilot project in the North Western Nova Scotia Correctional Centre in New Glasgow in February 2017 and the Southwest Nova Scotia Correctional Centre in Yarmouth in October 2018.
The tablets are limited in use by an inmate but can be used for entertainment in which there would be a fee that would come from their trust account. The inmate could also use it to send messages instead of using the phone.
There are also some free programs on the tablets, as well as educational and other resources, such as alcohol or drug counselling.
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
- Bath care: Anti-perspirant, shaving cream, scented soap, Dove soap, Palmer’s complexion soap, Palmer’s lotion (1.7 oz), Palmer Hair food ( 5.25 oz.)
- Hair care: Dandruff shampoo, All-in-one shampoo, Mane N ’tail shampoo.
- Oral care: Toothbrush, regular or sensitive toothpaste.
- Beverages: Pepsi, 7-Up, diet Pepsi, Crystal Light singles – strawberry kiwi, cherry, pomegranate — and instant packages of coffee and hot chocolate.
- Snacks: Granola bar, protein bar, Caramilk bar, Mars bar, Rice Krispie square, butter scotch candy, Twizzlers. Chip selections include sour cream and onion, regular and sun chips and Doritos. Cheese and crackers, maple & brown sugar oatmeal, barbeque peanuts, Mr. Noodles beef and Mr. Noodles chicken.
- Clothing: Shower sandals, small, medium, large or x-large. Shorts (orange) including 2X and 3X extra-large.
Scoville said there’s no cost to the government. The company overseeing the tablets bears the cost. It’s a secure system and there isn’t any Internet at the correctional facilities, for safety reasons, he added.
Scoville said they are at the point now of looking at rolling the tablet program into the Central Nova and Cape Breton correctional facilities.
“Across the country, you’ll see this is becoming more common. It does allow the inmate to gain a different type of access externally, information as well as access to their families.”
Although the canteen is not a system designed to make money, any funds that are inmate-generated go into an inmate trust account to be used for services for inmates. Scoville said, for example, if an inmate was leaving without a bus ticket it could be purchased through the trust. As well, sometimes there’s a program requesting something the correctional centre wouldn’t normally provide, such as art supplies, and the fund could be used for that.
“Our markup is minimal,” Scoville added. “We want to make things accessible to the inmates and things as easy as they can be on the inside.”