DLM
04-10-2005, 03:34 PM
JUDY MONCHUK
(CP) - A strategy designed to cope with the most dangerous women in Canada's prisons isn't working on the killer who prompted the policy, says an internal Correctional Services report.
The admission is included in a board of inquiry report into Serena Nicotine's most recent hostage situation at the Edmonton Institution for Women - one of the least violent offences in the 22-year-old's turbulent history.
"As a result of this hostage taking incident, Nicotine has been determined to require a managment structure above that offered," says the board of inquiry report into the Sept. 27, 2004 standoff where another inmate was cut with broken glass.
The report, completed in December, notes that an individual plan has been developed to deal with "long-term management" of Nicotine while she remains in segregation within the secure unit of Edmonton's maximum security women's prison.
The union representing prison guards has repeatedly told Corrections officials that Nicotine needs to be in super-maxium security, but no such facility exists in Canada for women. In fact, the strategy to deal with the most violent female inmates was only drafted after Nicotine tortured a prison guard for hours in December 2000 at Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.
Since Feburary 2003, the plan has been to stress behaviour management while stabilizing a daily routine for any female inmate who jeopardizes the safety of a guard or other inmate.
In the most recent incident, Nicotine smashed a TV set and took another inmate hostage. Guards overpowered her an hour later when she was handing over a list of demands, an outcome which surprised everyone witnessing the standoff, says the report which was obtained through Access to Information.
"It was good timing and a stroke of luck that it ended how it did," said Kevin Grabowsky, prairie president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
"Look at her history. She's got a pretty wide range. She's so very unpredictable."
Nicotine was just 15 in 1997 when she and another teen brutally murdered a group home operator in North Battleford, Sask. In March 2000, she held a nurse hostage at knifepoint for three hours at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon.
Later in 2000, Nicotine held a prison guard captive, burning her blindfolded face with a cigarette and setting her hair on fire. The guard spent years recovering from the trauma and only recently returned to work.
In March, during Nicotine's sentencing for the latest hostage taking, an Alberta judge recommended that she be sent to a psychiatric facility in Montreal. That has not happened.
"If she was a man, she'd be in a special handling unit and she'd never be given the opportunity to . . continually do what she does," said Grabowsky. "If a man had this kind of record he'd be in the special handling unit proving himself for quite a while."
Part of the problem is that cases like Nicotine's are rare within the prison system. There are about 400 women in federal prisons, compared with about 13,000 men. Only two women have been placed on the treatment program for severe behavioral problems in the two years it has been in place.
Lisa Watson, acting director general of the Women Offender Sector, would not say if Nicotine was one of those two, citing confidentiality concerns.
"In many ways, some of the most difficult women we have to manage have horrific stories behind them and in some ways we're going to be the Band Aid," said Watson.
"The money has to be put into the prevention so their lives don't get as messed up," she said. "We've got to hold them accountable for their crimes as well . . and we do our best to put an individualized approach in place to help them realize that their behaviours aren't making their lives any easier."
But Grabowsky says the tools used to discipline dangerous men, such as keeping them in restraints outside prison or making them exercise alone, aren't available with women offenders.
"You're dealing with a philosophy that women aren't as dangerous as men and we treat them differently in the correctional system. But their victims are still as victimized."
The board of inquiry report says staff at the Edmonton women's prison were uncomfortable with Nicotine's cell placement in the secure unit prior to the latest hostage taking.
"We're fighting to make sure there are restrictions on her movement, that safeguards are put in place," said Grabowsky, adding that guards are not allowed to be armed in any circumstance with women inmates.
"Our officers are very guarded when they deal with her," he said. "Sometimes all those safeguards aren't allowed to be used, so you're on edge. When we have restrictions on her, she behaves for a period of time. When restrictions start coming off, she starts misbehaving."
(CP) - A strategy designed to cope with the most dangerous women in Canada's prisons isn't working on the killer who prompted the policy, says an internal Correctional Services report.
The admission is included in a board of inquiry report into Serena Nicotine's most recent hostage situation at the Edmonton Institution for Women - one of the least violent offences in the 22-year-old's turbulent history.
"As a result of this hostage taking incident, Nicotine has been determined to require a managment structure above that offered," says the board of inquiry report into the Sept. 27, 2004 standoff where another inmate was cut with broken glass.
The report, completed in December, notes that an individual plan has been developed to deal with "long-term management" of Nicotine while she remains in segregation within the secure unit of Edmonton's maximum security women's prison.
The union representing prison guards has repeatedly told Corrections officials that Nicotine needs to be in super-maxium security, but no such facility exists in Canada for women. In fact, the strategy to deal with the most violent female inmates was only drafted after Nicotine tortured a prison guard for hours in December 2000 at Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.
Since Feburary 2003, the plan has been to stress behaviour management while stabilizing a daily routine for any female inmate who jeopardizes the safety of a guard or other inmate.
In the most recent incident, Nicotine smashed a TV set and took another inmate hostage. Guards overpowered her an hour later when she was handing over a list of demands, an outcome which surprised everyone witnessing the standoff, says the report which was obtained through Access to Information.
"It was good timing and a stroke of luck that it ended how it did," said Kevin Grabowsky, prairie president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
"Look at her history. She's got a pretty wide range. She's so very unpredictable."
Nicotine was just 15 in 1997 when she and another teen brutally murdered a group home operator in North Battleford, Sask. In March 2000, she held a nurse hostage at knifepoint for three hours at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon.
Later in 2000, Nicotine held a prison guard captive, burning her blindfolded face with a cigarette and setting her hair on fire. The guard spent years recovering from the trauma and only recently returned to work.
In March, during Nicotine's sentencing for the latest hostage taking, an Alberta judge recommended that she be sent to a psychiatric facility in Montreal. That has not happened.
"If she was a man, she'd be in a special handling unit and she'd never be given the opportunity to . . continually do what she does," said Grabowsky. "If a man had this kind of record he'd be in the special handling unit proving himself for quite a while."
Part of the problem is that cases like Nicotine's are rare within the prison system. There are about 400 women in federal prisons, compared with about 13,000 men. Only two women have been placed on the treatment program for severe behavioral problems in the two years it has been in place.
Lisa Watson, acting director general of the Women Offender Sector, would not say if Nicotine was one of those two, citing confidentiality concerns.
"In many ways, some of the most difficult women we have to manage have horrific stories behind them and in some ways we're going to be the Band Aid," said Watson.
"The money has to be put into the prevention so their lives don't get as messed up," she said. "We've got to hold them accountable for their crimes as well . . and we do our best to put an individualized approach in place to help them realize that their behaviours aren't making their lives any easier."
But Grabowsky says the tools used to discipline dangerous men, such as keeping them in restraints outside prison or making them exercise alone, aren't available with women offenders.
"You're dealing with a philosophy that women aren't as dangerous as men and we treat them differently in the correctional system. But their victims are still as victimized."
The board of inquiry report says staff at the Edmonton women's prison were uncomfortable with Nicotine's cell placement in the secure unit prior to the latest hostage taking.
"We're fighting to make sure there are restrictions on her movement, that safeguards are put in place," said Grabowsky, adding that guards are not allowed to be armed in any circumstance with women inmates.
"Our officers are very guarded when they deal with her," he said. "Sometimes all those safeguards aren't allowed to be used, so you're on edge. When we have restrictions on her, she behaves for a period of time. When restrictions start coming off, she starts misbehaving."