SUN EDITORIAL: They're on guard for us, too

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/10/05/1956075.html

Thu, October 5, 2006

EDITORIAL: They're on guard for us, too
   

Few people envy federal prison guards their jobs.
Every day, the guards face challenges that most of us would find intolerable. They deal with dangerous prisoners who pose a constant threat of violence.

They have been pelted with human excrement, they've stared down convicts armed with syringes and they have had to deal with riots and escape attempts.

And yet for some reason these guards -- pillars of our law enforcement system -- seem to be constantly marginalized by the federal government that employs them.
For instance, they have lobbied for years to win approval for stab-proof vests they can wear on their rounds -- a vital protection in an environment where homemade knives and shivs are common.
 

The guards have been promised the vests by next year, but they're skeptical. For years they were denied uniforms by governments that seemed to view them as less important than the cops on the street who are charged with enforcing the law.
The latest insult to the men and women who guard our federal prisons is a decision to arm them with secondhand guns -- weapons that are castoffs from the RCMP, who have decommissioned the .38-calibre revolvers because they're considered inadequate and perhaps even unsafe for their needs.

As the Sun's Kathleen Harris reported this past Sunday, the guards are fed up with their continual poor-cousin status, and who could blame them?
Harris also notes that the weapons training program for the guards is woefully inadequate, so should trouble break out when no qualified guards are present, the guns would remain locked away unavailable for use.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to make public safety a cornerstone of his agenda, and indeed he and Justice Minister Vic Toews have already taken steps to make our streets safer. Let's hope the government review will go further and include a measure of fairness for the prison guards.

We expect a lot from the men and women who patrol our penal institutions, even though most of their work takes place well away from the public eye. It's unconscionable that they should lack the basic tools they need to do their jobs.

 

[HDE]

Are the pistols not maintained at a serviceable level by the RCMP?  ???  The real issue is whether or not the guards are being required to use pistols that are now unreliable or dangerous

 

[Inspir]

It would be good to know what Correctional Officers employed with Correctional Services of Canada and the Ontario Provincial Government are currently outfitted with? In Alberta CO's are not permitted firearms because the use of deadly force is not authorized by the Alberta Solicitor General, however, in federal correctional centres under the mandate of Corrections Canada the use of deadly force is permitted. Bruce, are you folks authorized to use firearms in Ontario?

Bean Bag Guns For All!

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

No, if that kind of force is required than our teams would give way to the police until THAT requirement was no longer required.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

I don't get it.  You guys have a brutal job.  At least I get to tool around and look for bad guys.  You walk through the door and are immediately outnumbered by them. 
As with all things in service, death will ultimately highlight shortcomings and bring about change. 

On a semi-related note, check out this article I came across:

Prisons failing to tackle terror recruitment
Officers call for policy to stop al-Qaida radicalising ethnic minorities in jails

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday October 2, 2006
The Guardian

The prison service has no strategy to tackle al-Qaida operatives radicalising and recruiting young African-Caribbean and other ethnic minority prisoners in British jails, according to prison officers.
Britain now houses more suspected terrorist prisoners - the number is in the high hundreds - than any other European country, with many housed on normal wings alongside ordinary offenders.

The Prison Officers' Association says some of these terrorist prisoners are targeting for radicalisation and recruitment other alienated ethnic minority groups, as well as the smaller number of younger Muslim prisoners, and they are providing "rich pickings". Many of those held, whom they describe as "dangerous and highly capable", are "high up" in groups using the al-Qaida name and their lives have been dedicated to radicalising younger and more vulnerable people.

But senior prison managers have admitted in official correspondence that despite being aware of the problem they are waiting for a recently formed extremist prisoner working group to report before they do anything about it.

The POA has warned the government that urgent steps need to be taken to prevent the more dangerous suspected terrorist prisoners engaging in criminal integration and collusion, as well as their adoption of new radicalising and recruitment techniques.

Terror suspects and convicted terrorists are concentrated in high-security prisons, including Belmarsh in London and Woodhill in Milton Keynes. Despite being given the highest security, category A rating, most are kept on normal prison wings as the resources do not exist to deal with them all in separate secure units.

Steve Gough, the POA's vice-chairman, said he did not think there were "al-Qaida-controlled wings" yet in British prisons but said the stage had already been reached where they were recruiting prisoners sharing their cells or impressionable youngsters in the cell next door.

"Prison staff are very good at intelligence-led surveillance but it is difficult gathering intelligence listening to people who are having conversations in languages you don't understand. There are now many high-profile terrorist prisoners locked up on normal location, on normal wings with any other prisoner instead of in special environments."

The shoe bomber Richard Reid, the son of two non-Muslims, a white mother and a Jamaican father, has revealed how being radicalised while inside Feltham young offenders' institution led to his conversion to violent jihadism.

Lord Carlile, the independent watchdog on the government's anti-terror laws, this year identified the recruitment of radicalised youth in prisons as a problem and raised concerns about the activities of a small number of imams in prisons.

But more than a year after the bombings in London highlighted the need to tackle the radicalisation of Muslims the prison service has admitted that it has done little about it.

Peter Atherton, the deputy director-general of the prison service, has told the POA that "while there are some concerns that some people might be radicalised, there is little hard evidence that it is happening to date".

In a letter to Mr Gough, he disclosed that the prison service has recently formed an extremist prisoner working group, but senior managers are waiting for it to report before drawing up a prison service strategy for combating terrorism.

Meanwhile the Metropolitan police special branch has set up an intelligence unit in the prison service headquarters and there is also a system for monitoring terrorists held in high security.

Mr Gough said this response was entirely inappropriate: "This isn't a problem that will occur in the next few years. This is something the prison service should have been planning for since 9/11."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1885395,00.html

Albeit a Brit article, I could see that starting to happen here if we start locking up more radicals. 
Like you don't have enough aggravation now.  Imagine trying to censure prisoners because they were talking about "religion".  Good luck in this slice of rock.   

 

[youravatar]

Bean Bag Guns For All!

And for those riots. Bean Bag Chair Guns for all!

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I have read comments from several prison guards that the pistols are not their main concern as most times they don't carry any firearm when in contact. Better protective wear, better management, better prisons and better benefits are foremost on their list.

 

[Steel Badger]

Not to mention a discpline system that actually holds the inmate accountable for his or her actions inside the institution........


And a court system that would equate the assault upon a Correctional Officer with an assault upon a Police Officer

 

[zipperhead_cop]

And a court system that would equate the assault upon a Correctional Officer with an assault upon a Police Officer

Oh, Christ!  I wouldn't wish that on them.  They'll get attacked all the time. 
The judges see assaulting a police officer as a "job hazard".  Unless you have facial marks, something broken or a weapon was used, you will have a cherry of a time getting a conviction. 

 

[Steel Badger]

You see, there IS good news out there....!!!


I am being treated as the equal of the polizei!!!!!

 

[CAPCOR38]

Speaking as a Federal Corrections Officer, there are inherent dangers to our job. Getting bladed (stabbed), having human feces thrown at our face, beaten up, threatened....you get the picture. Without getting myself in trouble with my employer, I can tell you that things happen far more often than you know. Serious staff assaults often go unreported. We are sworn to a code of secrecy when it comes to any information which may create a negative impression of the Service.

Stab proof vests would be a God send. Finally some protection. But, like a condom, about 95% effective. We still won't have protection from the feces throwers, who by the way, must all have played quarterback when they were on the outside. More often than not, they hit you square in the face. This puts us in the awkward position of deciding whether or not to go on the AIDS cocktail for several months. While chances are slim, we only get one chance at it......Our family lives are ruined forever. The second blood test at six months, needs to be repeated year. Kind of puts your spouse in a bad spot. I equate "walking the ranges" at times to playing Russian Roulette with a 44 Desert Eagle, loaded magazine and one up the pipe!!!

Still, I new what I was getting myself into, as we all did. Provincial Corrections are no different. They are dealing with the same inmates we are, usually when they are in the midst of upgrading their criminal profile, or after we have made them all better. Regardless, it sucks to be us, but we'll manage.

Regarding weapons.........Last year one of my Assistant Wardens reported to the Vancouver Sun that, and I quote, "our Officers are not armed while performing escorts of Maximum Security inmate, due to the danger of the inmate taking their fire arm from them; thereby using against the Officer, or to facilitate an escape". WOW!!! What a vote of confidence. I think I would turn the inmates head into a canoe, before he took my weapon. :mg:

Merry Christmas to my Brothers and Sisters in Blue. Have a happy and safe New Year.

 

[Inspir]

Wow, thanks for that info. I have my interview with CSC this Wednesday and now I'll know exactly what to say when they ask me "what do you think are some of the negatives as working as a CX1?"  ^-^

 

[CAPCOR38]

If you are actually looking to work for us, that info won't help. I was explaining reality. The fact is is that they try to work in a perfect world scenario. Any soldier will tell you....Until you've been in battle, you can only imagine what it is like, or how you will act. Be yourself.