REGINA -- With COVID-19 cases on the rise, many people are trying to limit their exposure, but for some that's not an option.
Being locked up inside the Regina Provincial Correctional Centre, inmates rely on the staff working in the facility to ensure they're properly protected from COVID-19.
"We're sitting here basically trapped, no end in sight. The guards, kitchen staff, the nursing staff, they're all coming and going into the centre daily and they're not self isolating themselves," said Tyler Figley, an inmate at the Regina Provincial Correctional Centre.
Figley has been in the facility for seven months and believes inmates are being put at risk because of the number of people in the building.
He says inmates aren't given masks and what they are given isn't up to standard.
"Staff wears masks, (but) quite often you'll see staff members not wearing masks, the hand sanitizer that they've provided on the wall, it expires 04-2020, that’s April 2020, that's already expired," he said.
The Ministry of Corrections and Policing confirmed to CTV that one staff member and one inmate tested positive for COVID-19 at the Regina facility.
“Staff at provincial correctional facilities have been masking continuously since the summer. Offenders are required to wear masks in certain circumstances, such as upon admissions, when they are moving within the facility, and when on isolation, assessment, quarantine units. While the priority to date has been providing PPE to those highest risk, all offenders will now receive masks,” the ministry said in a statement to CTV News.
For Figley, the future is bleak.
“We don't know if we're going to get the virus. All those of us that are immunocompromised, we could die from this and we could be living our last days,” he said. “We won't get the opportunity to see our families and our families won't get to see us.”
