Prison protestation
Front-line correctional officers should have been involved in review of segregation policy, union says
The province’s front-line correctional offers say they were dumbfounded to realize on Wednesday they had been left out of a review of the disciplinary segregation policy at the province’s adult prison facilities.
They say they weren’t even aware the government was going to announce the new policy and release a report that included recommendations that will impact them in their daily work.
Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), the union that represents the province’s correctional officers, said Thursday that during a meeting of correctional officers Wednesday night many expressed displeasure with the announcement.
“Ironically, we had a meeting set up with local corrections officers here in St. John’s (Wednesday) night on other issues and, of course, the (disciplinary segregation policy announcement) became a major topic,” Earle said. “They were quite taken aback they weren’t included. We were hearing the day before that something was going to be announced, and we were wondering what would be in that announcement because we weren’t given any prior knowledge of it.
“Officers there were extremely upset. Every time there’s a policy implemented it is those front-line workers who have to live those policies, and they weren’t consulted.”
At Her Majesty’s Penitentiary on Wednesday, Minister of Justice and Public Safety Andrew Parsons and Owen Brophy, superintendent of prisons for Newfoundland and Labrador, announced to the media that Adult Corrections is developing a new, progressive disciplinary segregation policy for adult correctional centres in the province.
The policy was to be based upon the report “A Review of the Use of Disciplinary Segregation” completed by a special segregation review committee that included representatives of the John Howard Society Newfoundland and Labrador, Stella’s Circle, Department of Justice and Public Safety, Canadian Mental Health Association NL Division, and a unit manager of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary adult custody.
The committee’s report makes 18 recommendations — 14 of which were to be implemented immediately, while the remaining four are planned to come into effect after some infrastructure changes.
Key recommendations include reducing the maximum time in isolation from 15 to 10 days, with the ability for the inmate to earn a shortened stay in disciplinary segregation. Also, there will be better access to mental-health resources for inmates.
Earle said he would have expected NAPE to be notified and either a representative of the union or front-line workers to be included on the committee.
“When you look at the committee that was put together to look at these recommendations, not a single front-line officer or not a single representative of the body that represents them, which is NAPE, was included in that consultation,” he said. “Correctional officers weren’t consulted about the release of this policy or of this review and they believe they should have had a voice and input because they are the ones who have to live with the policy 24-7.
“Some of the recommendations in there they don’t take major issues with, but there was a review done at the federal level and the gentleman’s name, a correctional investigator, was Ivan Zinger, and he made some comments around that you have to be careful of the unintended consequences of when you make these type of changes. One that’s been statistically proven is when you make these changes, an unintended result is there is a potential for an increase in assaults of inmate on inmate, which then draws correctional officers into that volatile situation.”
Earle said the correctional officers want to meet with Parsons to discuss the situation.
An emailed statement from the Justice department Thursday stated: “(The) minister is now working towards implementing the recommendations as presented by the Segregation Review Committee, which consisted of representation from both the correctional setting and community organizations working within the criminal justice system. Minister Parsons is always happy to meet with NAPE or anyone who wants to discuss the justice system in the province.”