I have written a number of stories over the last 18 months about the increasing violence in B.C. jails.
There were two deaths just days apart last week.
Here’s my follow up story which was written for Saturday’s newspaper:
B.C. Corrections officers’ union says jail violence on the rise again
Dean Purdy, of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union, said inmate-on-inmate attacks were up 42 per cent in 2015 over 2014.
And violent incidents by inmates against staff members were also up 39 per cent over the previous year.
Purdy said no 2016 statistics are available yet, “but we know they’ll be higher.”
On Thursday, 25-year old Johnny Murphy died from injuries sustained in an altercation with his cellmate the night before.
RELATED
Postmedia has learned Murphy was in the segregation unit at Surrey Pretrial, but still shared his cell with another inmate who he had not previously met.
Correctional officers intervened in the fight and the victim was rushed to hospital, where he died early the next morning.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is probing the death. But no charges have yet been laid.
There have been several similar deaths in B.C. jails this year, as well as suicides and fatal overdoses.
Purdy said the increasing number of gangster inmates has made the institutions particularly volatile.
“The demographics and profile of the inmates in custody has changed dramatically over the past five to 10 years. There are more gang affiliated inmates in our jail than ever before. And 30 per cent of the inmate population have mental health issues,” he said.
Union leaders met with senior WorkSafe officials on June 20 “where we identified these very issues and put them on notice that changes need to be put in place to protect our officers and create a safer environment,” Purdy said.
He said the number of his members filing post-traumatic stress disorder-related claims has also increased.
Wednesday’s fatal altercation “is another example of a traumatic incident that our officers have to view or witness. And we’ve also seen, with the increase in violence, an increase in PTSD claims.”
Purdy said attacks on staff members at Surrey Pretrial have increased this year. There were 24 assaults on officers in all of 2015, while there had already been 25 attacks reported by the end of June 2016.
“That’s a real concern for us. That’s the reason why we’ve met with (WorkSafe)” he said.
The latest death at Surrey Pretrial came just a week after David Singh Tucker, charged with several sex assaults at the University of B.C., was found dead in his cell in the same institution of a suspected drug overdose.
B.C. Corrections official Amy Lapsley said in an emailed statement Friday that “staff and inmate safety are the paramount priorities in our correctional centres.”
“The process of maximizing the safety of each individual inmate begins on admission, and continues through ongoing risk assessments and related decisions about inmate placement. Notably, steps are taken to mitigate any identified risks of self-harm, as well as any known conflicts between inmates,” the statement said.
“Still, the reality is that many in custody have mental health issues, gang affiliations and violent criminal histories. As well the number of violent incidents each year can vary as inmates counts fluctuate — and in fact, our inmate count has been rising since the beginning of 2015.”
