Increased Safety Measures at Burnside Jail
Posted Sep 13, 2010 03:09:54 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry announced at Monday’s news conference “the escalating inmate violence at the Burnside facility is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.” And with that, he announced a number of measures to reduce the threat of violence to both inmates and correctional staff.
A more vigorous camera-monitoring policy will be implemented, and camera upgrades are planned to better view the day rooms and around cells. This will increase surveillance and supervision of offenders.
An Electronic Officer Rounds Tour system will be implemented. This is a hand-held wand-type device that records information on when, and who, conducted rounds.
The minister also announced the province’s Director of Correctional Services, Sean Kelly, is relocating his office to the Burnside facility to spend 100 per cent of his time to the issues there.
Kelly recognises the challenges at the province’s largest jail. “I’m not going to say that there’ll be no incidents tomorrow or the next day.”
“But what I can say is that some of the changes that we’re making now will make a difference.”
Kelly offered this as part of an explanation behind all of the violence at the Burnside lockup.
“It houses most of the high risk offenders in the province. So when you get a group of offenders who typically act violent in the community, when they come together you will sometimes see them act violently.”
According to union officials, there have been seven incidents of violence at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in the last eleven days.
