Reports of increased drugs and violence within Saskatchewan corrections facilities have officers sounding the alarm.
James Bloomfield is the Prairie regional president for the Union of Canadian Corrections Officers (UCCO) and says these issues are not unique to just the Prairies.
“We have a much more violent population than we’ve ever had before in federal custody. We have more drugs than we’ve ever had before in federal custody. And these services are way behind our technology, creating that problem to just continue to get worse,” Bloomfield said.
Bloomfield says corrections workers face risk of assault and serious injury daily from inmates — adding overworked officers may suffer further if facilities aren’t given more support.
“We’ve had a lot of inmate deaths. We’ve had a lot of situations put inside that are very, very close to turning negatively, that go into the riot scenario. Corrections Canada likes to call it isolated incidents or whatever they call it, but when we’ve had several riots sort of last for a while, by definition, and it’s not getting better right now, it’s just, you know, gang fuel, drug fuelled,” Bloomfield said.
The John Howard Society of Saskatchewan (JHSS) helps inmates with things ranging from living conditions to reintegration services. Their public legal counsel, Pierre Hawkins, says problems like drugs make their way into prisons when the community is also struggling with them.
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“We see in many ways what happens in custody sort of mirrors what happens in the community. So as we see increased addictions issues, increased death from toxic drugs in the community, we see that behind bars as well,” Hawkins said.
Regarding these concerns, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety provided the following statement to Global News:
“The ministry can confirm that operations within facilities are operating as normal and there are no security incidents of this nature to report. The Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all staff and offenders,” the statement read.
“The ministry has implemented a number of preventative measures to minimize the introduction of contraband into its facilities. Contraband detection devices and processes deployed in facilities include, but are not limited to:
- The use of specially trained drug-detection K9s for in-facility searches;
- Regular cell and common area searches; and
- Body scan technology which aids in the detection and identification of contraband substances.
“When a death occurs in custody, the Coroner’s Office determines the cause of death through a public inquest. Completed inquest findings can be found publicly on the Coroner’s Office website.”
The ministry maintains these measures are effective at controlling the ingress of drugs into facilities. However, drugs are making their way into prisons through drones, primarily — something corrections centres have neither the funding or technology to fight.
“The majority is drones there,” says Bloomfield. “There is no way to say it’s not. We do know that we are far behind our technology [for our] services, and when it comes down to that, that is what is loading our institutions with drugs, is drones and the continuation of lack of repercussions for anybody caught with drugs,”
Calling for more service funding and mental health supports for staff, Bloomfield says things will get much worse for corrections facilities if no action is taken.
“Honestly, what my biggest fear is, my entire career, no matter how much I’m talking with different managers, is that a decision is going to end up with a death of an officer,” Bloomfield said.
“And honestly, we’ve come very close recently on a few different occasions. It is getting to a point where the next step, unfortunately, somebody is going to die because of this.”
Reporting 54 per cent of officers experience a mental injury within the first five years of service, the UCCO states over 700 officers are currently off work for extended periods of time due to workplace trauma or injury.
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