Voices from inside: COVID-19 in Canada's prisons

Published: April 2, 2020, 4:10 a.m.

For weeks, inmates, correctional officers and penal reform advocates have been sounding the alarm that Canada's prisons are sorely underprepared for the arrival of COVID-19. Canada's chief public health officer, Dr Theresa Tam, has called correctional facilities a "high-risk setting" in which a mass infection could have grave consequences. \nThree inmates and 18 employees in federal institutions have tested positive for the coronavirus, as have an inmate and a guard at the Toronto South Detention Centre. On today's Front Burner, freelance reporter Justin Ling walks us through how the government can stave off a prison outbreak, protecting both inmates and society at large.