Inmate injured in fight at Lindsay superjail

An altercation between two inmates at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay resulted in one of them being taken to hospital Friday night.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services wouldn’t name the inmates or say which hospital.

Brent Ross, spokesman for the ministry, would only confirm an inmate was injured and returned to the jail Saturday.

“There was a serious assault on an offender by another offender … that resulted in a serious injury,” said Chris Butsch, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 368, which represents correctional staff at the Lindsay superjail.

Butsch couldn’t elaborate on the situation but said violent events, such as assaults, have traumatic results on the staff involved.

It seems like violent incidents, such as Friday’s, are increasing because of policies being made at a higher level without a consultation with the union or people on the front line, he said. That needs to change in order for what’s happening inside correctional centres to change, too, he said.

“We’d like to see those conservations happen with the front line and local executives and talk about change and how we can further prevent things like this or as serious as this anyway,” Butsch said.