Baffin Correctional Centre prisoner's hunger strike ends

A prisoner in Iqaluit has ended his hunger strike.

Poasie Aniniliak, 32, began his hunger strike June 5 at the Baffin Correctional Centre to protest conditions at the jail, including being on lockdown for 23 hours a day while in segregation.

"I finished after four days [June 8], and they moved me into a different cell where there's a bunk, in segregation," Aniniliak told CBCon June 13.

The Pangnirtung, Nunavut, man said the strike didn't seem to have any effect.

"I think it actually even got worse a little bit because now they're trying to say they want to transfer me [to a southern correctional facility]," he said.

Aniniliak began his hunger strike to protest a number of conditions at the jail,including the long stints of lockdown and only getting one hour of fresh air twice a week. Aniniliak also said he is being targeted by guards.

In a June 6 email, the territorialJustice Department did not comment on prisoners' access to fresh air, but it said prisoners in segregation "are provided a minimum of onehour of free time. They may make telephone calls, shower and so on."

The department also didn't comment on Aniniliak's allegation that heis being targeted and provoked by guards, citing privacy concerns.

• 'I'm looking for help': Prisoner at Iqaluit jail on hunger strike to protest conditions

"Provocation by guards who don't like a prisoner is commonplace," said Tom Engel, an Alberta lawyer and expert on Canadian prison conditions, in an email.

The department said last fall that "all placements in segregation are reviewed on a weekly basis by a facility classification committee."

Aniniliak said he is not aware of any such review in his case since June 4, when he says he was put into segregation.

The prisoner said he is considering another, longer hunger strike in the coming days to prevent his transfer to another facility.