HALIFAX --
With more than 1,300 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, advocates are calling for action within the provincial justice system.
Wellness Within – an organization for Health and Justice – is calling for the immediate release of prisoners to safe housing, and appropriate funding for organizations providing transitional housing and other supports, such as Coverdale Courtwork Society and the Elizabeth Fry Society.
"When we release people we are not seeing an escalation in crime,” said Martha Paynter, chair of Wellness Within. "People are incarcerated in this province largely while they're waiting for trials, so they're innocent people who have yet to be tried, yet to be convicted, yet to be sentenced."