Inmates in Yellowknife, Fort Smith spread Christmas cheer

Inmates at Yellowknife and Fort Smith's jails are out in full force this season, giving back to their communities by spreading some holiday cheer.

Every Christmas, low-security offenders at the territory's facilities shovel sidewalks for seniors and set up events in their community.

"We try to keep them as busy as we can throughout the holidays," says Pat Burke, acting associate warden at the Fort Smith Correctional Centre.

That facility houses 14 men and six women, who all take part in the holiday giving. This year, they've adopted three families to help the money comes straight from the inmates' pockets, which they've earned in work programs.

"They purchase toys and other goodies for Christmas, in this case, for a single mother and kids," says Burke. "We're looking at bringing some Christmas joy to some families."

The women will also help local charities wrap food hampers, which the male inmates will deliver.

"We got a bunch of Santa Claus hats and they'll be going out playing Santa's elves delivering those hampers," Burke says with a laugh.

Beyond that, they shovel for seniors, serve dinner at community events, and clean up afterwards.

"It gives these guys a really good feeling of accomplishment," Burke says.

As part of their on-the-land programming, the inmates also set snares and donate any rabbits caught to elders.

"It gives them a sense of belonging, it gives them a sense of healing as well."

'They feel good about themselves'

A work crew from Yellowknife's North Slave Correctional Centre is out five days a week in the community.

Joe MacIntosh, the deputy warden of maintenance, says the four men have all been granted low security a process that ensures it's safe for the community and the inmates to be out on the streets.

"Most of them that want to go out are offenders that really want to give back to the community," he says.

From Monday to Friday, the work crew, which is supervised at all times, is out shovelling around 20 seniors' homes and facilities and setting up events at the local seniors centre. They'll also help the city pick up Christmas trees.

"They feel good about themselves, they get out and do a good hard day's work," MacIntosh says.

He says the elders are "very receptive" to the inmates, often offering them cookies and hot drinks.

"I think it's very important for the community to see the offenders, who are always seen in a negative light, I guess, to see them out working and helping," he says.

"It proves that yes, they've done some things and they're paying their dues for that, however they're giving back to the community where they can feel better about themselves."

Gift that keeps on giving

While the outreach ramps up at Christmas time, both MacIntosh and Burke say the offenders are giving back to their communities all yearround.

In Fort Smith, Burke says the inmates help clean up the highways, cut lawns and are generally quite visible in the community.

"They don't stop when it comes to volunteering for the community," Burkesays. "And Fort Smith being Fort Smith, people haveaccepted the inmates as part of the community."

Ultimately, the hope is that community work will help the inmates reintegrate back into society once they're released,MacIntosh says.

"It's a good, positive thing that we're involved, it makes them very happy," he says.

"It goes a long way for these gentlemen that are basically just trying to get their lives back in order."