People at small rally dance for inmates at COVID-stricken Regina jail

Wearing her specially made dress with hundreds of small metal cones, Julia Paul led a protest and danced for healing in front of the legislative building Monday.

Her son is an inmate at the Regina Correctional Centre, which is in the middle of a massive COVID-19 outbreak with at least 150 active cases, according to Friday’s count.

“We just want to shed light on what’s going on in there and to show them that we’re out here supporting them and that we’re going to try to get them some answers,” said Paul.

Julie Paul, whose son is an inmate at the Regina Correctional Centre, danced for healing in front of the legislative building. She wants better conditions in the jail, more precautions, and priority access to vaccines for inmates and staff (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

She’s worried about her son and the other inmates at the jail. Paul said the last time she spoke to her son, he claimed there aren’t a lot of safety measures in place at the jail.

“Guards aren’t wearing masks and my son has said they were actually sick, going in there, and coughing on the food trays and they’re not even considering how that’s affecting the inmates,” said Paul.

When she went to put money in her son’s account at the kiosk in the jail, Paul said she also saw people not wearing masks.

“They’re not taking any measures to try to keep the inmates safe in there,” said Paul.

Her son had COVID in January, but Paul said she’s worried he’s going to get it again.

Paul also said she doesn’t have a lot of information about what’s going on because her son is having trouble calling.

“He was only able to call once to say what was happening and I haven’t heard from him again,” said Paul.

Paul said she wants the government to actually take care of the inmates instead of just putting them in a jail cell. She said she’s worried they can’t get the health care they need, including things like teas and home remedies that helped her when she was dealing with COVID recently.

Paul and the others at the rally are calling on the government to give more consideration to letting more inmates out on bail who are at the jail on remand. Paul’s son is set to have a bail hearing this week.

They also want inmates and workers at the jail to be given priority access to COVID vaccinations.