Incident at The Pas jail not COVID-linked: province

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This article was published 27/10/2020 (2044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No one was injured during an incident Monday at The Pas Correctional Centre — and it had nothing to do with COVID-19, a Manitoba Justice spokeswoman says.

After Justice Minister Cliff Cullen held a news conference Monday outlining his department’s protocols to keep Manitoba inmates and corrections staff safe from the coronavirus, a source told the Free Press a standoff had erupted between inmates and staff at The Pas jail.

The source familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified, said inmates had temporarily barricaded staff from accessing part of the jail, upset about a proposed move to isolate suspected COVID-19 carriers in a general population area.

The spokeswoman for the province said Tuesday there was a short period of unrest involving a small group of inmates in one area at The Pas Correctional Centre earlier yesterday, but it wasn’t related to COVID-19 isolation plans.

“The situation was resolved by staff without injury to inmates or staff,” the spokeswoman said.

As of Oct. 22, the Manitoba jail had an inmate population of 129, nine over its rated capacity.

“If you are at capacity, you got no place else to put these guys,” the source said Monday. “If you have ranges with 12 people in it, for example, and you are flipping one to a COVID range, you have no place for anyone else to go, unless you start double-bunking.”

 

No inmates or corrections staff at The Pas facility have tested positive for COVID-19 to date, she said.

All inmates with symptoms are isolated and offered testing, and the department of corrections has isolated asymptomatic inmates who have been in the community to attend court dates, for instance. That policy has been in place since the beginning of April, the spokeswoman said.

Staff must isolate at home if they have symptoms, and are advised to go for testing, she said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca