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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Prison told to improve protection of guards
Stony Mountain stalemate
A labour arbitrator has ordered Stony Mountain Institution to provide more protection to guards searching for a handgun.
The arbitrator made his ruling under the Canada Labour Code late Friday after a more than 24-hour stalemate between management and the guards.
Stony Mountain authorities had ordered guards to search for a handgun Thursday but without anti-ballistic protection. One guard refused to perform the search unless management provided him with an anti-ballistic vest and shield.
"These are open-bar cells... Guards can get shot walking down the tiers (prisoner living quarters)," said Kevin Grabowsky, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. There are specially trained emergency response teams to deal with gun searches, he added.
Police provide an example of how procedures change when a complaint comes in someone might be armed, Grabowsky said.
"Then you see shields, helmets, a SWAT team, bulletproof vests."
Stony Mountain received two tips in the past week that someone had thrown a handgun over the prison wall to an inmate. A small search of one segment of the penitentiary on Monday didn't find anything.
Guards were not told at the time the search was for a handgun, so they conducted it as a normal search for drugs or knives, wearing only stab-resistant vests. Staff became angry when they learned later the search was for a handgun.
Stony Mountain management received a second tip about a handgun and put the institution in full lockdown for a search of all prisoners. But a guard exercised the right to refuse work that puts an employee in danger under Section 128 of the Canada Labour Code.
Stony Mountain management could not be reached for comment Saturday. Grabowsky said the union wants a firm policy to address such incidents in the future.
Stony Mountain has been in a lockdown since 1 p.m. Thursday. Inmates are being confined to their cells and visits are suspended during a lockdown.
The search started Saturday and could go on for several days. There are 650 prisoners at Stony Mountain, just north of Winnipeg.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2012 A3
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