Perspective?

"The court can clearly grasp that the plaintiffs are unhappy to the point of frustration, distraction and despair, with the circumstances of their imprisonment.  Whether this is a normal and expected consequence of that imprisonment or whether their circumstances have gone beyond those prescribed by the laws of Canada is not sufficiently clear from the pleadings." 
Federal Court of Canada Justice Roger T. Hughes

Now, let's see who we're dealing with here.  Obviously, from the good justice's point of view a group of men who are 'unhappy, frustrated, distracted and in despair'.  Any compassionate heart would empathize, surely.  Men locked away, incarcerated for years, removed from society, and as such wholly dependent on the good intentions and fairness of those who operate the prison system, administering justice.  Poor souls.

And who are we dealing with here?  A 65-year-old motorcycle gang member who just happens to have killed twice, a serial rapist, who has repeatedly escaped prison.  He raped a woman in Kelowna, crushed her skull with a rock, then escaped prison and apprehended after a gunfight wounding an RCMP officer.  Another escape brought him to a crime spree where he raped a teenager, locked her in her bedroom closet and set her house on fire.  There's more, plenty more to his record.

The second of the five men who have complained about the inadequate and brutal circumstances that attend their stay in the prison system is only 31, serving a 12-year sentence for a number of home invasions and vicious attacks against women and men, terrorizing and brutalizing them while forcing them to surrender their PIN numbers and ransacking their homes, forcing the home owners to convey their goods themselves to their waiting vehicle.

And then there is a 23-year-old serving five years for assault with a weapon, and possession of weapons in an attack committed while already in prison for an earlier crime.  He and a friend stabbed a fellow inmate 12 times in the exercise yard.  He also on another occasion stabbed a guard in the stomach with a metal shank, and on yet another memorable occasion tossed feces at a guard.

Number four is 37, serving 14-1/2 years for break and enter, kidnapping, sexual assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm and a number of other crimes, including shoving a sock in a woman's mouth, tying her with duct tape, and raping her.  Then he proceeded to abduct his former girlfriend, after beating her sister and mother.  He held the woman hostage for 28 hours repeatedly raping her.

The final member of the group complaining of inadeuate library resources, lack of access to sunlight, suffering from sleep deprivation and annoyance at the lack of barber services is 24, with a lengthy criminal record aside from his sentence of 7-1/2 years for robbery, death threats, possession of stolen property and other crimes.  Released on day parole, he set off on a crime binge, including bank robberies and assaults.

And these are the five fine specimens of human detritus that have awakened the spirit of compassion and special consideration in the heart of Federal Court of Canada Justice Roger T. Hughes.  Who, having examined their suit prepared by themselves, as representing themselves, recommended they seek the services of a lawyer for, he instructerd them, "While many people can wield a knife, not all are surgeons."

Other inmates appear anxious to see the outcome of this suit lodged against the Saskatchewan Federal Penitentiary located close by Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.  Based on the success or lack of same, they may themselves wish to join the procession of aggrieved incarcerates whose quality of life has been sadly truncated by a prison system insufficiently attuned to their needs.

For, as they insist, their detention is "awkward" and "uncomfortable".