ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — About two dozen people chanted and waved signs outside Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest jail Wednesday, demanding better care for inmates with addictions and mental health problems.
The focus of their protest at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s was 32-year-old inmate Mitchell Murphy. His mother, Beverley Murphy, said that he has been incoherent in phone calls and during court appearances for months, and is clearly in distress.
She has been fighting for months for him to be taken to a hospital, where he can get the care he needs, she said.
“My primary concern is to save my son,” Beverley Murphy said in an interview Tuesday, before the protest. “I don’t want to bury him.”
The razor-wired brick walls outside Her Majesty's Penitentiary interrupt rows of houses along a residential street in a busy area of the provincial capital. Protesters on Wednesday chanted "mental illness is not a crime," as passing cars honked in support.
The facility is among the oldest operating provincial jails in the country, notorious for its well-documented rodent problems and persistent staff shortages.
Mitchell Murphy was arrested in September on charges including theft under $5,000 and failure to comply with a probation order, his mother said. His crimes were largely driven by his addictions and mental health issues, which have included at least one bout of what his mother said was psychosis.
She said she didn't hear anything from her son for the first three weeks he was incarcerated. And then he began calling frequently, "in total psychosis," she said. He would say he was being tortured, or subject to radiation, and sometimes he believed people were trying to kill him, she said.
In a court appearance from the jail this month through video conference, he told the judge there was another person out there with his name, and it was that man, not him, who had been charged, Beverley Murphy said.
He looked like he'd lost about 50 pounds, she said, adding that she didn't recognize him when he first appeared on the screen in the courtroom. "I was floored, I was speechless," she said. "He's not well."
Murphy said she has been phoning the jail and writing letters to politicians and health officials since she got her son's first call in September, asking that he be taken to the psychiatric hospital for care. So far, he's still at the jail. Murphy said it has been difficult to get information about what's happening to him.
On Wednesday, the protesters called for people in the justice system to be assessed by doctors for mental health issues before they go to jail. And if they need mental health care, they should get it, said Tina Olivero, who led the protest. Her son, Ben, died of an overdose in 2023, and he spent time at the penitentiary, Olivero said.
"People with mental health (problems) and addictions need to be properly diagnosed and properly medicated," Olivero told reporters. "This cycle has got to stop. It's wasting taxpayers' money, it's wasting time, it's wasting resources."
Murphy said she was pleased that so many people came out in the bitter cold to hold a sign and stand with her.
"I shouldn't have to do this," she said. "But this is the only way I can help him."
The province has long promised to replace the penitentiary with a new facility that has better health services. The government contracted a company in November to begin that work.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025.
Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press