Jail guards ordered to wear stab-proof vests
Posted Aug 11, 2010 03:24:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Just days after an inmate stabbed a guard with a pen, the Justice Department is announcing a change in policy requiring the mandatory use of protective vests.
The guard, who wasn’t wearing the ballistic and stab-proof vest, is expected to recover. He was conducting a cell inspection at the time at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside.
Justice Minister Ross Landry called the news conference in front of the jail Wednesday morning. He says eventually all 440 guards at all five correctional facilities will be issued the protective vests. For now, they will be focusing on protecting the 200 guards in the most dangerous areas of the Burnside lockup.
“We’re going to go where they think the highest risk is,” says Landry. “And we know right now there is a higher risk in the north unit and we are starting there.” He adds “as of this moment, they are using the vests in that environment.”
Superintendent at the Burnside unit, Russell Partridge, says their previous risk assessment had identified four areas of the facility considered high risk.
“None of them being the living areas, themselves,” says Partridge. That’s where Saturday’s stabbing incident happened. “But because of the recent incident, we certainly had to take a look at that.” The members of their Occupational Health and Safety Committee met Tuesday afternoon and recommended the change of priority and today the minister announced the mandatory use of the protective vests.
Justice Minister Landry says giving the vests to all of the guards sends a message. “This Department, this government believes in the job that they are doing.”
“We also want to send a message to the person in the institution that we’re going to stand up for our employees and we are going to address issues and not waste time” says the minister.
