Faulty locks delay N.S. prison opening

Prison cells built as part of a $ 40- million expansion of a Nova Scotia institution remained empty for a year after they were completed in 2014 because the doors wouldn’t lock.

Construction of the two 96- bunk units at Springhill Institution was already a year behind schedule when officials discovered the malfunctions in the computerized locking system, leaks in the showers and faulty light bulbs.

“A number of deficiencies such as locks, shower leaks, light bulbs, etc., were identified and work has been completed to resolve these issues,” said Cathy Theriault, a spokeswoman for Correctional Service Canada.

She said inmates began occupying one of the units on Sept. 29 and the other on Dec. 1. The work was supposed to have been completed in 2013.

The expansion was part of the Harper Conservatives’ $ 2.1- billion plan to add 2,700 beds at correctional facilities across Canada. The expansion in Springhill was supposed to bring 100 government jobs to the former town, which has since merged with Cumberland County. Most of the highpaying jobs in the area are at the prison, Coun. Maryanne Jackson said. When the citizens didn’t see any progress, they began to question what was going on.

“People were definitely curious,” Jackson said. “They were trying to find out why ( t he units) weren’ t open, when they’d be open and when the jobs were coming. It was very disappointing.”

Leaky plumbing and faulty light bulbs can be fixed in days, said a guard at a provincial jail in Ontario, but if the locks are malfunctioning, it could take up to a year to remedy the problem.

Chris Jackel said newer prisons have security systems that are controlled through computer monitors and a series of touch screens. Officers request for doors to be opened at their entrances and another officer sitting in a control module grants access.

The system malfunctioned at the Penetanguishene, Ont., prison in 2009, leaving doors unable to open or forcing them open at random times in the night. Inmates were still able to be housed in the cells because they can also all be opened with a traditional lock and key to avoid a security risk.

“If we do identify a certain area where doors are opening via computer malfunction, they’ll basically pull the fuse for the area,” Jackel said.

Similar problems have plagued the Toronto South Detention Centre since it opened in 2014, said Rodger Noakes, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Local 5112, which represents guards.

The jail operates on what Noakes called a fully integrated system that controls the lights, locks, water, P. A. systems, elevators and intercoms. When one thing malfunctions, the entire system can go down.

Noakes said Toronto South’s security issues are putting safety at risk. Inmates have figured out how to easily open the locks and pop off the hatches on their doors. They shattered more than 1,000 windows because the wrong glass was installed.

In one instance a correctional officer was stuck with three inmates inside a disabled elevator for more than an hour.

Inmates are usually placed in small numbers into new prisons to “test the system” and officials expect a few things to go wrong.

“When the inmates come in, they actually retest it for us — unofficially,” Noakes said.

Meanwhile in Springhill, the long- awaited new units are almost empty.

The prison acts as the reception institution for Atlantic Canada, housing offenders sentenced to more than two years in prison for their first 60 to 90 days. They then may be transferred to another federal facility.

Theriault said the reception centre now has the capacity for 59 inmates and the prison can hold another 577 prisoners.

But t he prison is c urrently home to 367 offenders — down from 378 only a few weeks before the one of the new units opened in September and 397 at the time of the expansion announcement.

“There’s not as many inmates, I think, as projected,” said Scott Lockhart, chairman of a citizens advisory committee that deals with prison issues. “Maybe this tough on crime thing three years ago ... they thought it would generate more offenders than it did.

“When some institutions cl osed in Ontario, t here wasn’t the flood of people they thought they’d get.”