Overcrowding not an issue at Burnaby youth jail where inmates rioted: province
BURNABY, B.C. — The British Columbia government is pushing back against claims that a Burnaby youth detention centre where inmates rioted on Tuesday night is overcrowded.
The Burnaby Youth Secure Custody Centre’s director of programs says in a statement issued by the Children’s Ministry the facility is fully staffed and only at about half capacity with a total of 43 residents.
Andrew Cronkhite is responding to the union representing correctional workers, which said staff had warned of “rising tensions” after a similar facility in Victoria closed and inmates were transferred.
But Cronkhite says the seven male youths, aged 15 to 17, involved in the incident are from the Lower Mainland and Interior and would not have been housed on Vancouver Island.