Government probing phoney report involving jail circulating online
The Saskatchewan government is investigating another potential instance of unauthorized social media use by employees at the Regina Correctional Centre.
A document, with official-looking Regina Correctional Centre and Ministry of Corrections and Policing headings, with the title “Hurt Feelings Report” is being circulated online.
It has all the appearances of an incident report, but uses mocking language, with the “principal purpose” of the document being, “To assist whiners in documenting hurt feelings, and to provide leaders with a list of inmates who require additional counselling.”
In a statement, the Ministry of Corrections and Policing confirmed it is investigating how the document was produced.
“This is not an official Ministry of Corrections and Policing document and is in no way supported by the Ministry,” said the statement.
The statement said the ministry became aware of it when it began circulating through social media.
This is the latest investigation done by the provincial government related to social media use and the Regina jail.
A corrections worker at the Regina jail was fired last month after making a crass remark about First Nations inmates on social media.
He wrote: “I ride enough Indians in jail. Now I’ve got my own to ride.” It was accompanied by a photo of the man straddling an Indian brand motorcycle in front of the statue — an oversized Indigenous head wearing a headdress — located in the town of Indian Head.
In the wake of that firing, the province announced it would also be reviewing its hiring practices.
At the time, Ministry of Justice spokesman Drew Wilby said the “vast majority, if not all staff ” are dedicated to their jobs and work hard to represent Saskatchewan’s correctional system professionally.
The firing and subsequent announcement came shortly after the Leader-post reported on a series of other social media posts made by people working in Saskatchewan jails. They were posted roughly a year earlier, but surfaced publicly this spring.
“Hey buddy did you just use a toothbrush to cut your throat? Let me cuff you and help you with that,” wrote one employee in that instance.
It was among several responses made by corrections employees to the question, posed on a Facebook group, “Name something you never thought you’d have to say to another person until you got into corrections?”
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that correctional workers at Saskatchewan jails were disciplined — but nobody was fired — over the inappropriate posts.