Guards blame riot on inmate overcrowding

Manitoba jail guards say a weekend riot shows inmate overcrowding in the province is growing worse.

Paul Olfert, head of the union representingthe guards,said if the province doesn't get a new jail, someone willbe seriously hurt or killed.

At an emergency meeting Olfert had with Manitoba Justice Minister Dave Chomiak on Monday, Chomiakagreed to interim measures, includingsetting up portable unitsat the correctionalcentresin Brandon and Headingley, Olfert said. However,Olfert said no timeline was provided for when those measures would be implemented.

By the numbers

Manitoba jail populations (as of Monday):

Brandon Correctional Centre: capacity, 164; actual, 239 (282 at the time ofSunday's riot;some have since been moved).

Headingley Correctional Centre: capacity, 485; actual,720.

Winnipeg Remand Centre: capacity, 289; actual,406.

Manitoba Youth Centre: capacity, 150; actual,173.

The Pas Correctional Centre: capacity,74; actual,111.

Portage Women's Jail: capacity, 35; actual,61.

Dauphin Correctional Centre: capacity, 61; actual,70.

Agassiz Youth Centre: capacity, 100;actual,73.

Milner Ridge Correctional Centre: capacity, 284; actual, 283.

Source: Manitoba Government and General Employees Union

The long-term solution of a new facility was also discussed, but no commitments were made by the government to that end.

The province had previously committed to the expansion of the Brandon Correctional Centre as well as the Milner Ridge Correctional Centre.

It has also broken ground on the construction ofa new women's jail near Headingley to replace an older facility in Portage la Prairie.

One inmate suffered minor injuries in Sunday's riot at the Brandonjail on Sunday afternoon.

The meleelasted four hours, during which27 inmates smashed walls, broke several things and even started a small fire.

Thefacility was originally built to house 160 inmates. At the time of the riot, there were 282 inmates.

Overcrowding the fault of the law: Chomiak

Chomiak blamed overcrowding on the legal system, telling CBC News about 70 per cent of the nearly 2,000 people in the province's jails are there on pretrialremand.

Chomiak said a lot of the remanded inmates are trying to capitalize on the current courtprocedure where judges typicallygrant inmatestwo-for-one credit fordays spent in pretrial detention.

The Criminal Code's currentprovisions for pretrial credit have no guidelines or limits on the amount of sentencing credit a judgecan grant.

Chomiakwas in Ottawa last week to lobby for the Senate to approve Criminal Code amendmentsthat wouldbar the remandcredit except for a 1.5-to-one ratio in exceptional circumstances.