Youth rushed, beat female worker in jail riot: union leader

A sole female case worker was rushed by a group of youth swinging their fists and forcing her down to the floor as a frightening riot unfolded last Sunday, leaving staff with fear about safety practices at the Nova Scotia youth facility, says a union leader.

Jason MacLean, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, gave a more detailed description Friday of the incident that escalated and ended with injuries to five youth workers – including broken bones, bruises and cuts.

“These were very large individuals ... They came swinging at her and hit her,” he said after he held meetings with more than 40 staff from the Waterville facility, with some of the bruised and bandaged staff sitting in the gathering.

The union president, himself a corrections worker, said he was told the incident began at a shift change, as one youth rang a buzzer to go to the bathroom.

He said the youth worker used a “gang door” buzzer, which allows all doors to open at once and permitted the youth to come pouring out as she desperately called for help on a radio system.

MacLean said staff told him the youth involved didn’t possess weapons, but used their fists and feet to strike and kick three female youth workers and two male youth workers at the scene in the cottage-style building in the Annapolis Valley.