Prison workers protest management and working conditions

Dozens of workers at Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's are calling for Superintendent Owen Brophy's resignation.

• Rebar shanks, exposed wires and intense violence: guard blows whistle at HMP

The workers, along with NAPE and CUPE supporters, protested safety and working conditions during a demonstration outside the prison on Friday afternoon.

Corrections workers at other facilities across Newfoundland and Labrador also staged protests in solidarity with the HMP employees.

Workers held signs with phrases like "Brophy's Gotta Go" and played Twisted Sister's song "We're Not Gonna Take It" as the protest began.

Liberal candidate Paul Antle and the NDP's Lorraine Michael, both running in the districtof St. John's East-Signal Hill, were present at the protest.

Brophy was appointed to province's top prison job last December by controversial then minister of justice and and public safety,Judy Manning.

He was also named in a Charter application that claimed he and other HMP officials had knowledgeof a planned attack on an inmate, but failed to stop it.

The defence lawyers who put forward thatapplication represented the men accused in the February2014 attack, and alleged that the trial was compromised by prison officials' previous knowledge of the incident.

The application, though, was dismissed in provincial court lastDecember.

HMP has gained attention for number of violent incidents that have occurred at the prison in recent years.

According to the Department of Justice and Public Safety, there were 73 assaults on inmates recorded in correctional facilities province-wide last year.