Yesterday’s riot at the Brandon Correctional Centre (BCC) raises serious health and safety issues for correctional officers and inmates alike at provincial correctional facilities.

At a news conference today, MGEU President Peter Olfert strongly underlined the union’s demand for the province to immediately invest in new correctional facility infrastructure as inmate overcrowding continues to grow worse in Manitoba.

“We’ve been sounding the alarm about inmate overcrowding in provincial jails for a number of years, but to date we’ve seen minimal response from our provincial government,” Olfert said. “We met with government officials this morning about what happened and we told them unequivocally that they cannot continue offering band-aid solutions to this problem. We need more beds, and that means a new provincial jail.”

“Someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed if we don’t begin addressing this now,” Olfert said. “That’s not sensationalizing the issue, it’s a fact.”

Yesterday’s incident at the BCC began at approximately 12:20 pm and took several hours, as well as members of the Brandon Police Service’s Tactical Response Unit, to bring under control. Luckily, no correctional officers were injured in the incident which Olfert said is likely the most serious incident to occur at a provincial jail since the 1996 Headingley riot.

Inmate counts at provincial jails continue to significantly exceed capacity – in some cases by as much as 100%. The added burden placed on staff means they are put at increased risk for injury. The Brandon Correctional Centre was originally built to house approximately 160 inmates. At the time of yesterday’s riot, the institution was housing 282 inmates.

“We know the province has tried to take steps to deal with this like utilizing the gyms or other space within correctional facilities, and they’ve added some additional beds at Milner Ridge” Olfert said. “But we need a long-term solution to this. My members are telling me they’re surprised that this didn’t happen sooner.”

The MGEU staff and Corrections members will continue to meet on this issue over the next few days to determine what steps may need to be taken in the near term. If correctional officers are not satisfied that the province can guarantee their safety at provincial jails they may decide to exercise their right to refuse unsafe work, which is a right guaranteed to them under the Health and Safety Act.

“Correctional officers, like other peace officers, take their responsibilities within the community very seriously and take pride in doing a great job under impossible circumstances,” Olfert said. “But they also have a responsibility to their families to make it home from work every day.”

For media inquiries contact John Baert at 982-6438 or 1-866-982-6438 (outside Winnipeg).