Jail stabbing leads to charges

Two inmates in Nova Scotia have been charged with aggravated assault after a stabbing last month at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.

Corrections officials said an inmate was stabbed in a common room in the north unit of the jail on June 15 during an altercation involving three prisoners. The victim was treated in the hospital and released.

Shawn Michael Shea, 30, and Adam Joseph LeBlanc, 21, are due in court July 27 to face the charges.

The stabbing incident prompted guards to lock down the entire jail. As guards responded to the incident, some prisoners in the west unit refused to leave a day room and return to their cells, prison officials said last month.

Guards donned riot gear when 17 inmates — some wearing masks — covered security cameras and started breaking sprinklers, windows and equipment.

During a riot in April 2009, 59 inmates protested after receiving bagged meals instead of hot food. They set fires, smashed windows and destroyed a recreation room, causing about $30,000 damage.

Opened in 2001, the jail is designed to hold 225 male and 48 female inmates in single cells. However, prisoners are often placed two to a cell because of overcrowding.