stevesboo23
04-16-2005, 12:24 AM
Inmates use rights to disrupt jails, guards say
'There's no real punishment'
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ca10de38-bbc2-482a-bdc2-7b6a85514e4c&page=1
Amy O'Brian
Vancouver sun
Friday, April 15, 2005
CREDIT: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
Gordon Alcorn, a prisoner who is serving a life sentence for murder, sits in his room at a halfway house in Chilliwack where he has worked as an advocate for prisoners' rights and restorative justice.
Guards in B.C.'s federal prisons say inmates are getting away with serious in-house crimes and using knowledge of their rights to manipulate the system.
Prisoners at some jails regularly use drugs and hide home-made weapons, but the guards say punishments usually amount to a small fine or a warning.
Conservative MP Randy White is compiling a report that lists dozens of recent examples of prison riots and inmate violence, and lists nine jails where either inmates or the library have had subscriptions to pornographic magazines.
White, a long-time victims' advocate and critic of the correctional system, plans to release his full report in May and is calling for an operational review of the national prison system.
Spokesmen for unions representing both provincial and federal prison guards in this province say in-house deterrents are lacking and inmates are increasingly citing their rights.
"There's no real act of punishment any more," says John Williams, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. "[The prison managers] cater to the inmates to keep them quiet."
Inmates are becoming increasingly aware of their human rights and make prison rules work to their advantage, the guards say.
Policies meant to protect guards are being turned on their heads by inmates who use the policy to get unpopular guards transferred.
"Inmates have learned to use this policy against us," Williams says. "This is where we lose control. "It's pretty simple for me. Who runs our jails?"
Graham Trotman, spokesman for the corrections branch of the B.C. Government Employees' Union, says some inmates in the provincial system continually return to prison because they consider it the closest thing to a home.
"Coming to jail is no longer a deterrent," he says.
"[Inmates] are given what they want when they complain loudly enough."
But the inmates don't have to utter a word when they want a particular employee removed from a federal prison.
The prisoners have learned how to manipulate the employee protection policy, which Williams says was implemented about a year ago to deal with anonymous, written threats against guards.
The policy dictates that a guard be transferred to either another facility or another area of the prison within 24 hours of a written threat being made against them. Williams says the inmates at Matsqui prison near Abbotsford have used it four times in the past year to get rid of guards.
"Prisoners know the system inside and out," says Liz Elliott, a Simon Fraser University criminologist and former social worker who still works with inmates.
Elliott says she believes inmates should know their rights and responsibilities if they're expected to abide by the rules and says harsh punishments serve neither offenders nor Canadian citizens.
"I have to say, as a person who lives [in the Fraser Valley], I would be concerned about people being released from a system where they're being treated like animals," she says.
The 1992 enactment of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act changed the status of prisoners' rights, and Williams believes, in some cases, the pendulum has swung to give inmates more rights than the guards.
Inmates use rights to disrupt jails, guards say
John Williams, of the Canadian Correctional Officers Union, says managers cater to inmates.
At Matsqui institution, Williams says prisoners facing in-house disciplinary charges can get legal advice through a "peer advocate" program, in which inmates with legal training provide support and advice. The program started about a year ago, but Williams would like to see it cancelled.
"They [the inmates] get better training than most of my staff [for disciplinary proceedings]. They're allowed to have somebody represent them," he says.
"Who represents the correctional officer?"
Canada's correctional system encourages resolution of in-house disciplinary problems through discussion and mediation, but guards argue the move suggests to inmates there are few, if any consequences for their actions.
A 2004 directive on the discipline of inmates from the commissioner of the Correctional Service says staff should "attempt informal resolution of unacceptable behaviour wherever possible." According to the written directive, informal resolution includes "resolution circles, negotiation, mediation, counselling, cooperative problem solving, warnings and advice."
At Mountain institution, a medium-security prison in Agassiz, the number of in-house charges in the past year was dramatically lower than in previous years. In 2004, prisoners racked up 238 in-house charges. But in 2003, there were 548 charges, and in 2002 there were 728 charges in an inmate population of about 500 men.
Last year, 44 of the charges resulted in a warning, while 143 of the charges were punished by a fine that Williams says would rarely exceed $50.
Williams, who was a seasoned guard before taking up his union position about a year ago, says it's not unusual for fines to be handed out for offences such as possession of drugs or verbally assaulting a guard.
Gordon Alcorn, a 51-year-old convicted murderer living in a halfway house in Chilliwack, says the in-house disciplinary system is no more than a "joke" to most of the inmates.
Alcorn spent 20 years in different prisons before moving to the halfway house and says the disciplinary system is known as "kangaroo court."
"I don't take it seriously -- most prisoners don't. It's a joke," Alcorn said in a phone interview from his parole officer's office.
"I'm serving a life sentence. What can you to do to me?"
Alcorn says he and most other offenders would rather tick off a guard and be slapped with a warning or small fine than upset another inmate, who would likely seek a punishment of a much harsher variety.
Neither Williams nor Nancy Wrenshall, acting warden at Mountain institution, have a solid explanation for the drop in charges, but Wrenshall says it's the guards' decision whether to go ahead with formal discipline.
She says she often hears guards complain that there's no sense in laying a charge because they believe the punishment doesn't match the offence, but dismisses that as a poor excuse for officers not doing their jobs.
That's a bit like a police officer who says, 'You know what, I'm not going to bother making that arrest because I don't like the sentence the courts hand down,'" Wrenshall says.
But the union of federal corrections officers -- which has been in a bitter labour dispute for three years with the federal government -- says that at some prisons, charges are disappearing, serious offences are being designated as minor and serious charges are being tossed out because of minor technical errors.
Wrenshall says she is not aware of those complaints and says there has been no direction from management to lay fewer charges. And even if an inmate's poor behaviour is dealt with informally, Wrenshall says all behavioural observations are noted and considered when the inmate is up for parole.
Gerry Dewar, acting warden at Matsqui prison, says his staff is constantly monitoring inmates' behaviour and write 200 to 300 behavioural reports each month. The reports are used to determine who may be using or dealing drugs, and are compiled for use during parole hearings.
In the past four months, more than 15 inmates have been moved to the maximum security Kent institution for drug-related offences, Dewar says.
Last fall, Matsqui prison was seeing more drugs than usual, but Dewar says the situation has improved since key dealers and distributors were moved to Kent.
Drugs in prisons are not a new phenomenon --and both Dewar and Williams agree the problem is nearly impossible to solve -- but Williams says it's no coincidence that Matsqui has the worst drug problem in the region and also has almost weekly "open houses" where about 150 visitors enter the prison.
Regular visits and contact with the outside world are encouraged as part of inmates' rehabilitation and eventual re-integration into society, but White says such visits should be considered a privilege and not a right for inmates.
He points to assaults, murders, molestations and drug deals that have taken place during prison visits and says even though he was assured by the commissioner in 2002 that the correctional service was "cleaning up [its] act," he says little has changed.
"Things have gotten worse," White says.
"The inmate committees and and the drug cartel and the gangs are the ones that rule the roost."
White points to the ability of inmates in maximum security prisons to get subscriptions to magazines such as Hustler, Playboy, and Porn Stars. Through Access to Information requests, the MP discovered several Canadian prisons had pornography magazines being delivered to either the prison library or inmates.
"These guys [the inmates] have claimed it's their right to have this pornography," White says.
"I would suggest it's not their right to have that pornography."
White, like the guards, believes inmates can get what they want if they complain loudly enough.
"It's a system of appeasement," he says.
He says complaints and concerns about the system are "falling on deaf ears" and he wants to see change.
But Alcorn, the convicted murderer, warns that a toughening of the system is only going to create ill-adjusted parolees and ex-convicts who will be more likely to re-offend once they're released.
"Every prisoner is coming out one day and is going to live in your neighbourhood," Alcorn says.
"Do you want someone who knows rights and understands rights and can exercise them properly, or do you want someone who's been locked in a cage for 20 years?"
- - -
An excerpt from the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, enacted in 1992.
PRINCIPLES THAT GUIDE THE SERVICE:
That the service use the least restrictive measures consistent with the protection of the public, staff members and offenders;
That offenders retain the rights and privileges of all members of society, except those rights and privileges that are necessarily removed or restricted as a consequence of the sentence;
That correctional policies, programs and practices respect gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and be responsive to the special needs of women and aboriginal peoples, as well as to the needs of other groups of offenders with special requirements.
REPORT LISTS DRUG USE, ASSAULTS ON GUARDS AND OTHER VIOLENCE IN CANADA'S PRISONS:
Next month, Conservative MP Randy White expects to release a damning report on Canada's prison system that will include dozens of examples of violence, drugs and questionable practices inside prison walls. White is writing the report using government documents acquired through Access to Information requests and newspaper articles from across the country.
Some excerpts from White's report:
APRIL 10, 2005
Heroin dealer Nicholas Chan demanded his conviction for selling dope to an undercover cop be overturned because of the conditions he experienced while in remand. Some of his complaints include access to only six radio stations, a lack of grass on the exercise yard, and bad television reception. Chan also complained he was "getting bored" with only three board games and three television channels and is calling his conditions in the jail a violation of his rights. Chan is attempting to sway a judge to consider his conditions in jail when sentencing him for selling $7,000 worth of heroin to a Calgary police officer.
APRIL 7
A corrections officer was injured when five inmates high on pills refused to allow guards into their common area in protest of their deliveries running late. One correctional officer was punched in the face by an inmate involved in the disturbance at Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. The inmates then ripped a bolted table from the floor and used it to barricade access to their cell. Thirty guards waited until that night when they entered the blocked cell with shields and tear-gassed the inmates.
APRIL 5
Correctional officers warned that drugs in Canadian prisons are rampant and little is being done about the situation. Belongings are given to inmates without being searched, and individual cells can only be searched once every month according to regulations -- guards must apply for permission to perform any additional searches.
MARCH 26
A maximum security Edmonton Institution prisoner lit a blanket on fire in the shower area, which has no sprinkler systems. As guards approached the inmate while blinded by smoke, he produced a homemade knife fashioned out of a fiberglass lunch tray. In the same week, another inmate at Edmonton Institution climbed up a chain link fence and onto the institution's roof. When guards were able to apprehend him and return him to his cell it was discovered that the inmate was carrying an ice pick. Guards at the institution wonder why stab-proof vests are not available to them on a regular basis considering what they my encounter daily.
MARCH 22
After assaulting a jail guard, destroying his mattress, threatening to kill a guard confiscating contraband from his cell and advising another guard he had people on the outside ready to kill him and his family, Daniel Landry is getting his wish for a stiffer, federal prison sentence. As an inmate at Saint John Regional Correctional Centre, Landry says he doesn't have access to the treatment programs he wants and had "issues" with prison staff. A judge granted Landry his wish and added 14 months to his one-year sentence.
MARCH 11
Yet another inmate has requested a longer prison term, this time so that he can smoke while in jail. Douglas Bezanson is serving a 23-month sentence at Saint John Regional Correction Centre. Recent efforts to get charged with additional crimes and sent to federal prison include: Lighting bed sheets on fire, pulling a toilet out of the wall and flooding his cell, damaging a door frame, and smashing another toilet. After being sentenced to an additional 10 months he thanked the judge.
MARCH 10
Dickson Motsewetsho managed to run an international telephone fraud business while serving a sentence in Don Jail. Motsewetsho continued his telemarketing scheme while in prison on unrelated charges by having an outside partner make three-way calls for him. He billed businesses in the United States $500 each for a "business directory" without their knowledge or consent. Motsewetsho also defrauded sales workers who were not paid their wages.
FEBRUARY 26
Richard Barker has received six months in jail for his part in the riot at Edmonton Institution on 7 Feb. 2004. The riot was sparked by an assault on a guard and went on to produce $150, 000 in physical damage. Inmates smashed computers and furniture, started fires in office areas, and tore sinks out of the walls in the lunchroom. Raymond Jacobson, the inmate who began the riot, was sentenced to an additional two years in prison.
Source: Behind the Bars II, a report by MP Randy White
READING MATERIAL:
During his investigation into Canada's prison system, Conservative MP Randy White discovered through Access to Information requests that several institutions had subscriptions to magazines. White says the magazines are sent to inmates or the prison library through the correctional service.
VANCOUVER SUN
Latest News
Below is a sample of some of the magazines found at Canadian prisons.
Stony Mountain, Manitoba
Playboy
Maxim
Stuff
Drumheller, Alberta
Playboy (now banned)
Hustler (now banned)
Edmonton Institution, Alberta (2003)
Hustler (31 subscriptions)
Penthouse Letters (4)
High Society (8)
"D"-Cup (3)
Club International (25)
Club Confidential (36)
Playboy (3)
Velvet (6)
40Plus (6)
Porn Stars (5)
Oui (13)
Adam xxx movies (2)
Bath Institution, Ontario
Penthouse
Velvet
Joyceville Institution, Ontario
Black Men
"D"-Cup
Dorchester Penitentiary, New Brunswick
Fox magazine
Ran with fact boxes "Reading Material" and "Report Lists Drug Use, Assaults on Guards and Other Violence in Canada's Prisons", which has been appended to the end of the story.
'There's no real punishment'
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ca10de38-bbc2-482a-bdc2-7b6a85514e4c&page=1
Amy O'Brian
Vancouver sun
Friday, April 15, 2005
CREDIT: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
Gordon Alcorn, a prisoner who is serving a life sentence for murder, sits in his room at a halfway house in Chilliwack where he has worked as an advocate for prisoners' rights and restorative justice.
Guards in B.C.'s federal prisons say inmates are getting away with serious in-house crimes and using knowledge of their rights to manipulate the system.
Prisoners at some jails regularly use drugs and hide home-made weapons, but the guards say punishments usually amount to a small fine or a warning.
Conservative MP Randy White is compiling a report that lists dozens of recent examples of prison riots and inmate violence, and lists nine jails where either inmates or the library have had subscriptions to pornographic magazines.
White, a long-time victims' advocate and critic of the correctional system, plans to release his full report in May and is calling for an operational review of the national prison system.
Spokesmen for unions representing both provincial and federal prison guards in this province say in-house deterrents are lacking and inmates are increasingly citing their rights.
"There's no real act of punishment any more," says John Williams, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. "[The prison managers] cater to the inmates to keep them quiet."
Inmates are becoming increasingly aware of their human rights and make prison rules work to their advantage, the guards say.
Policies meant to protect guards are being turned on their heads by inmates who use the policy to get unpopular guards transferred.
"Inmates have learned to use this policy against us," Williams says. "This is where we lose control. "It's pretty simple for me. Who runs our jails?"
Graham Trotman, spokesman for the corrections branch of the B.C. Government Employees' Union, says some inmates in the provincial system continually return to prison because they consider it the closest thing to a home.
"Coming to jail is no longer a deterrent," he says.
"[Inmates] are given what they want when they complain loudly enough."
But the inmates don't have to utter a word when they want a particular employee removed from a federal prison.
The prisoners have learned how to manipulate the employee protection policy, which Williams says was implemented about a year ago to deal with anonymous, written threats against guards.
The policy dictates that a guard be transferred to either another facility or another area of the prison within 24 hours of a written threat being made against them. Williams says the inmates at Matsqui prison near Abbotsford have used it four times in the past year to get rid of guards.
"Prisoners know the system inside and out," says Liz Elliott, a Simon Fraser University criminologist and former social worker who still works with inmates.
Elliott says she believes inmates should know their rights and responsibilities if they're expected to abide by the rules and says harsh punishments serve neither offenders nor Canadian citizens.
"I have to say, as a person who lives [in the Fraser Valley], I would be concerned about people being released from a system where they're being treated like animals," she says.
The 1992 enactment of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act changed the status of prisoners' rights, and Williams believes, in some cases, the pendulum has swung to give inmates more rights than the guards.
Inmates use rights to disrupt jails, guards say
John Williams, of the Canadian Correctional Officers Union, says managers cater to inmates.
At Matsqui institution, Williams says prisoners facing in-house disciplinary charges can get legal advice through a "peer advocate" program, in which inmates with legal training provide support and advice. The program started about a year ago, but Williams would like to see it cancelled.
"They [the inmates] get better training than most of my staff [for disciplinary proceedings]. They're allowed to have somebody represent them," he says.
"Who represents the correctional officer?"
Canada's correctional system encourages resolution of in-house disciplinary problems through discussion and mediation, but guards argue the move suggests to inmates there are few, if any consequences for their actions.
A 2004 directive on the discipline of inmates from the commissioner of the Correctional Service says staff should "attempt informal resolution of unacceptable behaviour wherever possible." According to the written directive, informal resolution includes "resolution circles, negotiation, mediation, counselling, cooperative problem solving, warnings and advice."
At Mountain institution, a medium-security prison in Agassiz, the number of in-house charges in the past year was dramatically lower than in previous years. In 2004, prisoners racked up 238 in-house charges. But in 2003, there were 548 charges, and in 2002 there were 728 charges in an inmate population of about 500 men.
Last year, 44 of the charges resulted in a warning, while 143 of the charges were punished by a fine that Williams says would rarely exceed $50.
Williams, who was a seasoned guard before taking up his union position about a year ago, says it's not unusual for fines to be handed out for offences such as possession of drugs or verbally assaulting a guard.
Gordon Alcorn, a 51-year-old convicted murderer living in a halfway house in Chilliwack, says the in-house disciplinary system is no more than a "joke" to most of the inmates.
Alcorn spent 20 years in different prisons before moving to the halfway house and says the disciplinary system is known as "kangaroo court."
"I don't take it seriously -- most prisoners don't. It's a joke," Alcorn said in a phone interview from his parole officer's office.
"I'm serving a life sentence. What can you to do to me?"
Alcorn says he and most other offenders would rather tick off a guard and be slapped with a warning or small fine than upset another inmate, who would likely seek a punishment of a much harsher variety.
Neither Williams nor Nancy Wrenshall, acting warden at Mountain institution, have a solid explanation for the drop in charges, but Wrenshall says it's the guards' decision whether to go ahead with formal discipline.
She says she often hears guards complain that there's no sense in laying a charge because they believe the punishment doesn't match the offence, but dismisses that as a poor excuse for officers not doing their jobs.
That's a bit like a police officer who says, 'You know what, I'm not going to bother making that arrest because I don't like the sentence the courts hand down,'" Wrenshall says.
But the union of federal corrections officers -- which has been in a bitter labour dispute for three years with the federal government -- says that at some prisons, charges are disappearing, serious offences are being designated as minor and serious charges are being tossed out because of minor technical errors.
Wrenshall says she is not aware of those complaints and says there has been no direction from management to lay fewer charges. And even if an inmate's poor behaviour is dealt with informally, Wrenshall says all behavioural observations are noted and considered when the inmate is up for parole.
Gerry Dewar, acting warden at Matsqui prison, says his staff is constantly monitoring inmates' behaviour and write 200 to 300 behavioural reports each month. The reports are used to determine who may be using or dealing drugs, and are compiled for use during parole hearings.
In the past four months, more than 15 inmates have been moved to the maximum security Kent institution for drug-related offences, Dewar says.
Last fall, Matsqui prison was seeing more drugs than usual, but Dewar says the situation has improved since key dealers and distributors were moved to Kent.
Drugs in prisons are not a new phenomenon --and both Dewar and Williams agree the problem is nearly impossible to solve -- but Williams says it's no coincidence that Matsqui has the worst drug problem in the region and also has almost weekly "open houses" where about 150 visitors enter the prison.
Regular visits and contact with the outside world are encouraged as part of inmates' rehabilitation and eventual re-integration into society, but White says such visits should be considered a privilege and not a right for inmates.
He points to assaults, murders, molestations and drug deals that have taken place during prison visits and says even though he was assured by the commissioner in 2002 that the correctional service was "cleaning up [its] act," he says little has changed.
"Things have gotten worse," White says.
"The inmate committees and and the drug cartel and the gangs are the ones that rule the roost."
White points to the ability of inmates in maximum security prisons to get subscriptions to magazines such as Hustler, Playboy, and Porn Stars. Through Access to Information requests, the MP discovered several Canadian prisons had pornography magazines being delivered to either the prison library or inmates.
"These guys [the inmates] have claimed it's their right to have this pornography," White says.
"I would suggest it's not their right to have that pornography."
White, like the guards, believes inmates can get what they want if they complain loudly enough.
"It's a system of appeasement," he says.
He says complaints and concerns about the system are "falling on deaf ears" and he wants to see change.
But Alcorn, the convicted murderer, warns that a toughening of the system is only going to create ill-adjusted parolees and ex-convicts who will be more likely to re-offend once they're released.
"Every prisoner is coming out one day and is going to live in your neighbourhood," Alcorn says.
"Do you want someone who knows rights and understands rights and can exercise them properly, or do you want someone who's been locked in a cage for 20 years?"
- - -
An excerpt from the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, enacted in 1992.
PRINCIPLES THAT GUIDE THE SERVICE:
That the service use the least restrictive measures consistent with the protection of the public, staff members and offenders;
That offenders retain the rights and privileges of all members of society, except those rights and privileges that are necessarily removed or restricted as a consequence of the sentence;
That correctional policies, programs and practices respect gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and be responsive to the special needs of women and aboriginal peoples, as well as to the needs of other groups of offenders with special requirements.
REPORT LISTS DRUG USE, ASSAULTS ON GUARDS AND OTHER VIOLENCE IN CANADA'S PRISONS:
Next month, Conservative MP Randy White expects to release a damning report on Canada's prison system that will include dozens of examples of violence, drugs and questionable practices inside prison walls. White is writing the report using government documents acquired through Access to Information requests and newspaper articles from across the country.
Some excerpts from White's report:
APRIL 10, 2005
Heroin dealer Nicholas Chan demanded his conviction for selling dope to an undercover cop be overturned because of the conditions he experienced while in remand. Some of his complaints include access to only six radio stations, a lack of grass on the exercise yard, and bad television reception. Chan also complained he was "getting bored" with only three board games and three television channels and is calling his conditions in the jail a violation of his rights. Chan is attempting to sway a judge to consider his conditions in jail when sentencing him for selling $7,000 worth of heroin to a Calgary police officer.
APRIL 7
A corrections officer was injured when five inmates high on pills refused to allow guards into their common area in protest of their deliveries running late. One correctional officer was punched in the face by an inmate involved in the disturbance at Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. The inmates then ripped a bolted table from the floor and used it to barricade access to their cell. Thirty guards waited until that night when they entered the blocked cell with shields and tear-gassed the inmates.
APRIL 5
Correctional officers warned that drugs in Canadian prisons are rampant and little is being done about the situation. Belongings are given to inmates without being searched, and individual cells can only be searched once every month according to regulations -- guards must apply for permission to perform any additional searches.
MARCH 26
A maximum security Edmonton Institution prisoner lit a blanket on fire in the shower area, which has no sprinkler systems. As guards approached the inmate while blinded by smoke, he produced a homemade knife fashioned out of a fiberglass lunch tray. In the same week, another inmate at Edmonton Institution climbed up a chain link fence and onto the institution's roof. When guards were able to apprehend him and return him to his cell it was discovered that the inmate was carrying an ice pick. Guards at the institution wonder why stab-proof vests are not available to them on a regular basis considering what they my encounter daily.
MARCH 22
After assaulting a jail guard, destroying his mattress, threatening to kill a guard confiscating contraband from his cell and advising another guard he had people on the outside ready to kill him and his family, Daniel Landry is getting his wish for a stiffer, federal prison sentence. As an inmate at Saint John Regional Correctional Centre, Landry says he doesn't have access to the treatment programs he wants and had "issues" with prison staff. A judge granted Landry his wish and added 14 months to his one-year sentence.
MARCH 11
Yet another inmate has requested a longer prison term, this time so that he can smoke while in jail. Douglas Bezanson is serving a 23-month sentence at Saint John Regional Correction Centre. Recent efforts to get charged with additional crimes and sent to federal prison include: Lighting bed sheets on fire, pulling a toilet out of the wall and flooding his cell, damaging a door frame, and smashing another toilet. After being sentenced to an additional 10 months he thanked the judge.
MARCH 10
Dickson Motsewetsho managed to run an international telephone fraud business while serving a sentence in Don Jail. Motsewetsho continued his telemarketing scheme while in prison on unrelated charges by having an outside partner make three-way calls for him. He billed businesses in the United States $500 each for a "business directory" without their knowledge or consent. Motsewetsho also defrauded sales workers who were not paid their wages.
FEBRUARY 26
Richard Barker has received six months in jail for his part in the riot at Edmonton Institution on 7 Feb. 2004. The riot was sparked by an assault on a guard and went on to produce $150, 000 in physical damage. Inmates smashed computers and furniture, started fires in office areas, and tore sinks out of the walls in the lunchroom. Raymond Jacobson, the inmate who began the riot, was sentenced to an additional two years in prison.
Source: Behind the Bars II, a report by MP Randy White
READING MATERIAL:
During his investigation into Canada's prison system, Conservative MP Randy White discovered through Access to Information requests that several institutions had subscriptions to magazines. White says the magazines are sent to inmates or the prison library through the correctional service.
VANCOUVER SUN
Latest News
Below is a sample of some of the magazines found at Canadian prisons.
Stony Mountain, Manitoba
Playboy
Maxim
Stuff
Drumheller, Alberta
Playboy (now banned)
Hustler (now banned)
Edmonton Institution, Alberta (2003)
Hustler (31 subscriptions)
Penthouse Letters (4)
High Society (8)
"D"-Cup (3)
Club International (25)
Club Confidential (36)
Playboy (3)
Velvet (6)
40Plus (6)
Porn Stars (5)
Oui (13)
Adam xxx movies (2)
Bath Institution, Ontario
Penthouse
Velvet
Joyceville Institution, Ontario
Black Men
"D"-Cup
Dorchester Penitentiary, New Brunswick
Fox magazine
Ran with fact boxes "Reading Material" and "Report Lists Drug Use, Assaults on Guards and Other Violence in Canada's Prisons", which has been appended to the end of the story.