The co-founder of Turnings calls the overcrowding at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary a “crisis situation” that will lead to even greater negative effects for inmates.

The Department of Justice last week confirmed that two dozen inmates are currently being housed in the penitentiary gym due to overcrowding and high incarceration rates.

Dan McGettigan wonders about the impact overcrowding has on the delivery of support programs at the institution.

He says “for an older institution, probably built for a maximum population of probably, 170, 180, 200, but when you get up to 250 or beyond, the administration and staff are tasked with dealing with people who are coming in through the door who have been charged and deemed to be incarcerated, so they’re looking for spaces in the unit. And now, there are people who are bedded down in the gymnasium and there used to be a space for what’s called intermittents – people who did time on the weekends, but that’s taken up now as another unit because of the overcrowding.”

That says McGettigan affects staff, inmates and community advocates who want to go in and assist to help reduce tension, and make sure inmates stay in contact with family members.

“There’s a lot of accountability and blame to go around,” says McGettigan. “I can’t just focus on one particular group or sector of justice. It involves a lot of gifted, expert people to try to deal with this emergency, crisis situation.”