Inmates on suicide watch only offered the Bible at Sudbury Jail

People on suicide watch at Sudbury Jail have no access to reading materials other than the Christian Bible, a practice critics say is both discriminatory and not based in psychological best practices.

In fact, one person interviewed by Sudbury.com believes the practice may be a charter violation.

In a recent Sudbury.com article about renovations at the Sudbury Jail, Sara-Jane Berghammer, CEO of the John Howard Society, described the jail protocols for inmates who express suicidal ideations. Those inmates are placed on what is commonly called ‘suicide watch’.

People on a watch are removed from general population and isolated in an open area without privacy, so staff can monitor them. Their typical prison attire is replaced with a short gown (typically called a “baby doll dress,” Berghammer said) and are allowed no personal items or eating utensils.

Those on watch are also denied reading material provided by the John Howard Society’s library program, which is the only service that provides reading material to Sudbury inmates.

“The only thing that is allowed is the Bible,” she said. 

In a new interview, Berghammer said the practice of providing only the Bible to those in a mental health crisis has been in place for some time, but couldn’t say for how long.

She told Sudbury.com jail staff have asked John Howard to secure other religious texts, like the Quran, for its library program. However, while the Bible is offered free, an incarcerated person would have to purchase any other sort of religious text out of pocket as the library program is donation based.

“We don't typically come across religious texts other than the Bible,” in the donations they receive, said Berghammer. 

Berghammer said she hopes the rule changes soon for the health of the people who are on watch. 

“It's an awful struggle, when you're alone with nothing,” she said. “Is it really helpful to them to give them absolutely nothing but a Bible?”

Sudbury.com was unable to determine if the practice is common in Ontario jails, with the Solicitor General’s office only offering vague statements regarding clinical support services and refusing to answer followup questions.

“The ministry has protocols in place for the care of inmates who are at risk for suicide, including access to appropriate clinical supports, such as addiction counsellors, mental health nurses and social workers,” reads the statement provided by Hunter Kell, a junior press secretary at the Ministry of the Solicitor General. “Access to any type of reading material for inmates that are placed on a suicide watch would be determined on a case-by-case basis to ensure the inmate’s safety.”

Sudbury.com reached out to the Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC), national educational charity with a goal of promoting reason, compassion, and secular values, about the issue.

Leslie Roseblood, CFIC’s secular chair, told Sudbury.com he agrees with Berghammer that there seems to be no evidence-based reason to offer only religious texts to those considering suicide. Not everyone is Christian, religious or spiritual.

“There is no evidence that I have ever encountered that indicates that religious texts are effective in helping those who have suicidal ideation,” he said. “As someone who is greatly in favour of evidence-based treatment, I would hope that our penal system would use those materials that have proven efficacy for those in dire need. So the policy of restricting access to religious materials makes no sense to me, because there is no evidence that it will achieve its stated goal.”

While Canada is certainly a secular country, especially compared to some other part of the world, Rosenblood said there remains a legacy of government support for religion, including government funding of religious education and the subsidization of religious charities to the tune of $5 billion a year.

This use of public dollars to subsidize religious practices continues despite flagging support for religion by Canadians. In a 2019 poll about religious adherence in Canada, 29 per cent of Canadians stated they were religiously unaffiliated; about a third of Canadians never pray and half of Canadians "never" or "seldom" attend worship services.

Not only is the practice of only providing religious texts not evidence-based, it might be discriminatory as well, and ripe for a charter challenge.

Ontario Humanist Society member Jacques Babin, a retired history professor and former criminal lawyer from Sudbury, said he thinks two sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to the question of reading material for incarcerated people.

“Section two, which is the freedom of religion, which basically deals with freedom of thought, also,” said Babin. “Then Section 12, which is that nobody should be subjected to a cruel and unusual punishment, or treatment. And I think this is cruel and unusual treatment.

“If the only thing you have is the Bible and you don't have access to anything else, I think it might be a worthwhile challenge.”

Babin told Sudbury.com the restriction to religious texts is “offensive”, in his view, because each person — regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof — should have a choice. 

“My question is, who makes these decisions and when was it decided that only the Bible was acceptable?” said Babin.

He said that studies indicate that correctional facilities that provided incarcerated people with access to reading materials have improved outcomes related to recidivism and even quality of life while in the facility; a sentiment with which Berghammer agrees.

If a charter challenge to the practice of providing only religious texts is launched from Sudbury, it wouldn’t be the first time the Nickel City is at the centre of a religiously based charter case. In 1985, Sudbury lawyer Philip Zylberberg and two other Sudbury parents went to the Supreme Court of Canada and won a decision finding that the recitation of the Lord’s prayer in schools violated the Charter of Rights. 

Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized communities for Sudbury.com