OTTAWA -- Severe overcrowding, bare-bones staffing and a lack of programming for inmates have made the job for prison guard more dangerous, says the union that represents corrections staff at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
And according to information provided to QMI Agency under the Freedom of Information Act, Ottawa's jail has a higher rate of inmate assaults and threats directed at staff than other correctional facilities of a similar size.
Between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 31 of this year, there were 51 incidents in which corrections staff were assaulted by an inmate that might have resulted in an injury to the staff member.
"One injury to a staff member is too much. Unfortunately, that is what my members are faced with," said Eddy Almeida, division chair for corrections with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
The ministry of community safety and correctional services said that in the event of an assault or serious threat against staff, priority is given to the immediate safety and, if necessary, treatment of the staff member, followed by the identification, arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.
"Correctional services is committed to ensuring a safe workplace," responded ministry spokesman Tony Brown. "However, the nature of the correctional environment means there is always a risk of assaults or threats by inmates against staff."
The union has been pressing for "refresher" training for corrections staff similar to the training opportunities provided for police officers. Typically, prison staff get six weeks of corrections training at a college when they enter the profession. Almeida says there is no additional training.
But the ministry said correctional officers are provided with specialized training before starting a job and are provided with training on an ongoing basis.
Understaffed prisons result in opportunities for conflict between inmates and staff, with a provincial average of one officer for every 30 inmates and one officer to six offenders in youth facilities, according to the union.
"It's more a warehousing type of model," said Almeida.
QMI Agency also found that there have been 181 lockdowns between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 31 at one or more of the OCDC's units. The most common reasons for a lockdown were inmate assaults (57), and staff finding or suspecting the presence of contraband (59).
Almeida said lockdowns are also used as a way of controlling inmates when a jail is short-staffed -- an occurrence, he said, that is happening with more frequency.
The ministry says it has worked with the union to "enhance working relationships and ensure that workplace health and safety issues are effectively addressed."
A result of that partnership was the formation of a health and safety committee.
