Overcrowded Labrador prison causing problems for inmates, guards, says NAPE president

Newfoundland and Labrador's largest public workers' union says the prison in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is understaffed.

Following a visit to the Labrador town by provincial justice officials to meet with front-line staff, Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, said the Labrador Correctional Centre is frequently over capacity and understaffed.

The prison was originally designed to house 38 prisoners but there are times that it well exceeds that, Earle says, and that affects mental health and addictions problems, as well as the overall system itself.

"We have concerns around the health and safety of the prison population and certainly we also have concerns for the members that we represent that provide those front-line services in these facilities," he said. "The numbers are too high."

Earle called the problem a "complicated puzzle" and said staffing is a big issue, and that he applauds provincial officials for trying to tackle the problem.

"As populations increase, there has to be corresponding staffing numbers and that's very difficult to do sometimes."

Filling those positions is not an easy or overnight task, said Justice Minister Andrew Parsons. But he says the department is working to find solutions and has set aside $100,000 to deal with capacity problems.

"Capacity at the LCC is certainly an issue right now," he said. "In fact, capacity in all of our institutions in the province is a pressing issue, and something that really is a daily conversation for us."

It's a problem going back years, he said, noting that RCMP short-term lockup cells are being used to house prisoners much longer than they should.

"That poses the question to me, why are the numbers going up?" he said.

Parsons says he's trying to address the issue of increasing prisoner numbers as well as the problems with capacity and staffing.

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