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• The CBC reported that conditions at Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, have deteriorated so drastically that inmates are literally sharing cells -- and more -- with rats.
Inmate Devon Fitzpatrick told an interviewer that he woke up one morning to the feeling of something moving in the crotch of his pants; when he reached down, he found a rat had given birth there.
"Stuff like that happens on a regular basis," he said of the Victorian-era facility. "They climb on the tables, they climb up the pipes and the wires. They're everywhere."
He said he's been bitten about 20 times.
Fitzpatrick also described other dehumanizing conditions at the prison; the government has said it's working with a company to build a new prison, but no improvements have been made in the meantime. [CBC, 6/18/2024]