Guards blame riot on inmate overcrowding

Manitoba jail guards say a weekend riot shows inmate overcrowding in the province is growing worse.

Paul Olfert, head of the union representing the guards, said if the province doesn't get a new jail, someone will be seriously hurt or killed.

At an emergency meeting Olfert had with Manitoba Justice Minister Dave Chomiak on Monday, Chomiak agreed to interim measures, including setting up portable units at the correctional centres in Brandon and Headingley, Olfert said. However, Olfert said no timeline was provided for when those measures would be implemented.

By the numbers

Manitoba jail populations (as of Monday):

Brandon Correctional Centre: capacity, 164; actual, 239 (282 at the time of Sunday's riot; some have since been moved).

Headingley Correctional Centre: capacity, 485; actual, 720.

Winnipeg Remand Centre: capacity, 289; actual, 406.

Manitoba Youth Centre: capacity, 150; actual, 173.

The Pas Correctional Centre: capacity, 74; actual, 111.

Portage Women's Jail: capacity, 35; actual, 61.

Dauphin Correctional Centre: capacity, 61; actual, 70.

Agassiz Youth Centre: capacity, 100; actual, 73.

Milner Ridge Correctional Centre: capacity, 284; actual, 283.

Source: Manitoba Government and General Employees Union

The long-term solution of a new facility was also discussed, but no commitments were made by the government to that end.

The province had previously committed to the expansion of the Brandon Correctional Centre as well as the Milner Ridge Correctional Centre.

It has also broken ground on the construction of a new women's jail near Headingley to replace an older facility in Portage la Prairie.

One inmate suffered minor injuries in Sunday's riot at the Brandon jail on Sunday afternoon.

The melee lasted four hours, during which 27 inmates smashed walls, broke several things and even started a small fire.

The facility was originally built to house 160 inmates. At the time of the riot, there were 282 inmates.

Overcrowding the fault of the law: Chomiak

Chomiak blamed overcrowding on the legal system, telling CBC News about 70 per cent of the nearly 2,000 people in the province's jails are there on pretrial remand.

Chomiak said a lot of the remanded inmates are trying to capitalize on the current court procedure where judges typically grant inmates two-for-one credit for days spent in pretrial detention.

The Criminal Code's current provisions for pretrial credit have no guidelines or limits on the amount of sentencing credit a judge can grant.

Chomiak was in Ottawa last week to lobby for the Senate to approve Criminal Code amendments that would bar the remand credit except for a 1.5-to-one ratio in exceptional circumstances.