The union representing Canadian correctional officers is sounding the alarm about violence and drug use in prisons, after one of its members was injured in B.C.
The attack happened early Monday morning at the Kent Institution, B.C.’s only maximum security prison, as the officer was conducting a routine pat-down during a medication lineup.
That’s when the inmate stabbed him in the face with a homemade prison shank.
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“In four years, over 200 hands-on incident responses. This was the first time I was caught off guard,” the officer said. Global News is not identifying them for safety reasons.
Union of Canadian Correctional Officers Pacific region president John Randle said the stabbing has left the member rattled.
“He’s at home recovering, obviously he’s got a physical injury … so that was dealt with at the hospital, and there’s always the lingering psychological effect,” he said.
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Randle said violence in prisons is at the highest he’s seen in his 16-year career, with assaults against staff “happening almost on the daily now.”
He said the assaults are a part of a “violent subculture” linked to growing drug use behind bars, with near-daily attempted drone drops of drugs, weapons and cellphones occurring.
Randle alleged the problem is spiralling because inmates rarely face criminal charges for violence against correctional officers, with prosecutors deeming them not in the public interest.
“These inmates are not being held accountable for their actions in the institution,” he said.
“And it sends a message to these inmates that if you don’t have to follow the rules when you’re in jail, then you don’t have to follow them when you are on the street.”
At the same time, he said the federal government has been relaxing its policies on drug use in prisons, providing needle exchanges and supervised consumption sites for drug users.
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He argued those policies have created a permissive atmosphere for drug use, rather than an environment that rehabilitates inmates and prepares them to reintegrate into society.
“They’re basically almost condoning the drug use in federal institutions, is the way we look at it right now. And that has to stop. It should be zero tolerance on drugs,” he said.
Global News requested an interview with Correctional Service Canada and is still waiting for a response.
The B.C. Attorney General’s Office deferred questions to the B.C. Prosecution Service. Global News is seeking comment from the prosecution service.
B.C. Opposition Leader John Rustad, meanwhile, said the violence is a sign of a bigger problem.
“I don’t know how it’s not in the public interest,” Rustad said.
“My perspective is the job of the justice ministry, the job of our system, is to protect the people in British Columbia no matter who they are, and when you have somebody that’s committed a crime, charges should be laid, especially a serious crime like that where an officer has been assaulted.”
The Kent Institution and the RCMP, meanwhile, are still investigating the stabbing. The union is calling for criminal charges against the inmate and for him to be transferred to the Special Handling Unit in Quebec, the correctional system’s highest-security environment.
— with files from Rumina Daya
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