ONE of four men charged in the 2005 slaying of inmate David Tavares at Stony Mountain Institution was the alleged ringleader of a mass gang fight at the medium-security jail only months earlier, federal parole documents say.
The July 17, 2004 brawl involving 20 inmates belonging to two rival aboriginal gangs led to a three-day lockdown of the federal prison. A massive search later turned up 59 weapons, including five rounds of .22-calibre ammunition.
National Parole Board documents say prison officials believed Charles Coaster was the main instigator of the clash. Coaster was locked up in segregation and more than a dozen other inmates were transferred to maximum security prisons.
"The Correctional Service of Canada is of the opinion that you are 'prepared to defend the gang members and what they stand for', and that this logically elevates your risk to become involved in violent activities," the NPB said.
Coaster, 23, is now charged with second-degree murder in connection to the March 20, 2005 beating death of Tavares in a recreation room of the prison.
Also charged are Victor Alexander James Ryle, Alvin Nathaniel Cote and Evan Lawrence Myran.
All must be considered innocent until proven otherwise in court.
Coaster was already in custody awaiting trial on another second-degree murder charge. He was arrested last year and charged with the January 2006 shooting death of Brock Kosack in the North End. A preliminary hearing is set for later this year.
Ryle was also in custody at the Winnipeg Remand Centre on outstanding gun and drug charges in a 2005 incident in Winnipeg.
Myran is currently a sentenced inmate at Stony on assault and break-in convictions. Cote is an inmate at Edmonton Institution on unspecified charges and is to be transferred to Winnipeg to appear in court next week.
Tavares' death prompted an internal investigation by the Correctional Service of Canada and sparked a wrongful death claim by his family, who live in Thunder Bay.
The family believes prison staff made a mistake by placing Tavares among high-risk gang members as he was only serving a sentence for an impaired driving conviction.
They also believe staff did not take precautions to intervene in the attack.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
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