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Investigation, cleanup underway after riot at Saskatchewan Penitentiary

Dec 16, 2016 | 10:15 AM

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — A Saskatchewan prison where a riot took place this week had the most complaints of any penitentiaries in the country last year, says Canada’s prisoners’ ombudsman.

One inmate was killed and eight others hurt — six of them when corrections officers fired their guns in an effort to get the situation under control.

Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, said there were 413 complaints from inmates at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.

“It is an institution that has had some concerns and those concerns manifest in several ways, and one of the ways is in the number of complaints to my office,” Sapers said Friday.

“Frankly, I always find it extremely troubling when I hear about any kind of an incident like this, any kind of mass use of force, any kind of demonstration by offenders because it really does speak to a real dysfunction in that institution, that things have gotten that badly out of control.”

Sapers said there were 1,442 complaints last year from 11 institutions in the Prairie region. There were about 6,500 complaints across the country, he said.

For comparison, Dorchester Penitentiary, a prison for men in New Brunswick, had 305 complaints.

Concerns at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary were over issues such as food, health care, family visits and access to parole hearings.

“We get several complaints about food and these complaints should not be dismissed as frivolous,” Sapers said. 

“The quality, quantity of food, the variety, the nutritional value, the need for special diets in many cases are all very serious issues.”

Significant changes have been made to the menu, preparation and service, he said.

James Bloomfield, a spokesman for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, said there are rumours that the riot Wednesday started with inmates who worked in the kitchen and talk about portion sizes, but nothing has been confirmed.

During the riot prisoners set fires, smashed windows and pulled heat registers off walls.

“So there is an area that is completely uninhabitable. We have moved inmates throughout the institution to ensure that they all have a safe and secure location,” said Bloomfield.

Bloomfield said the union, RCMP and Correctional Service Canada are all investigating, but it will take time to look at everything.

“It takes a while for these investigations to get going because there’s a lot of interviewing that has to happen and depending on how long that could take, or how co-operative or unco-operative people are, the information may be really forth coming, it may not be,” he said from Winnipeg.

Cameras were smashed too, so there won’t be visuals for some of the riot, he added.

Jeff Campbell with Correctional Service Canada said the damage is extensive and officials have not yet determined how much repairs might cost.

Sapers has also sent a team from his office to investigate.

— By Jennifer Graham in Regina

The Canadian Press